


Supreme Setter Squad of Chaos

by mimimortis



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, College AU, Friendship, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Mild Language, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 42,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27156916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimimortis/pseuds/mimimortis
Summary: The story of platonic soulmates Akaashi Keiji, Oikawa Tooru, and Sugawara Koushi. How they came to find each other, the shenanigans they get into, and the ups and downs of living a life as a p(r)etty setter.Please note, any romance that might appear in this story is subplot to the main event: the friendship of three chaotic setters.Canon divergence: Oikawa stays in Japan and Akaashi goes to Suzumeoka.Please check individual chapters for more content warnings and tags
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Oikawa Tooru & Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 26
Kudos: 67





	1. Poetry

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: I've been doing some outlining, and there are currently 42 chapters planned. We'll see if that number stays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi needs to get away from his stalker roommate, and he also needs to learn how to make friends in college. There may be a bad poetry night in this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: in light of Akaashi being officially an only child, I made his niece into a cousin (since I am trying to keep as much of canon as possible)

Akaashi hid behind his hand as he watched his new roommates make complete fools of themselves on the small stage. His rational brain was saying to get out now, to denounce the pair and walk out of the cafe. However, Akaashi couldn’t look away, and even worse, a part of him was tempted to join in from the audience. He decided the middle ground was to sit silently and watch through his fingers. It was all so chaotic, it was absolutely outrageous, and, yet, it was undeniably perfect.

Akaashi wouldn’t have predicted this to be how his week would end when it first started, but he knew exactly how he ended up in this situation, being glared at by the cafe owner while his roommates performed poetry worse than everything they had heard so far that night. He figured it was just the price of making friends.

  
  


_One week ago..._

Akaashi needed to find a new place to live. This morning he’d woken up to his roommate perched on his desk chair and watching him sleep. It was the final straw. Not that Akaashi had enjoyed his roommate going through his belongings or making him little trinkets, but last night crossed too many boundaries. They had known each other for less than a month, yet the other student was undeniably obsessed with Akaashi. 

Akaashi had already attempted to switch dorm rooms, but the exhausted employee at the housing office had informed him there were no open rooms left. That unfortunate circumstance was why Akaashi found himself looking at the apartment postings around campus bulletin boards.

He scanned the posters, ignoring listings for apartments too expensive, far from campus, or requiring him to share a room—privacy was crucial after this past month. His eyes fell to calligraphic “Roommate Needed” on neon pink paper with dispersed glitter that caught the sunlight. 

_Vacant room in 3br. Close to campus and public transit. Laundry room in building. Any gender okay, but you must enjoy baked goods, like volleyball, and be pretty (if you have to ask whether or not you are, then you aren’t). Send inquiries to sugawara.koushi@toyko.uni.jp_

The ad was a little... much, but the price and location were right. Plus, there was the added promise of baked goods, which was more than enough to get Akaashi to send an inquiry.

> **Vacant Room**
> 
> * * *
> 
> Akaashi Keiji <akaashi.keiji@toyko.uni.jp>
> 
> To: sugawara.koushi@toyko.uni.jp
> 
> Good morning Sugawara-san,  
>  I am emailing to inquire about the vacant room I saw in your ad. I was hoping you might find time to meet with me, today or tomorrow would be great. Thank you in advance for the consideration.  
>  Sincerely, Akaashi Keiji

> **Re: Vacant Room**
> 
> * * *
> 
> Sugawara Koushi <sugawara.koushi@toyko.uni.jp>
> 
> To: akaashi.keiji@toyko.uni.jp
> 
> Morning Akaashi! If you don’t mind coming over in the evening, we would happily meet you at 20:00 today at the apartment. Otherwise we can meet you tomorrow afternoon at a cafe near campus.  
>  Best, Suga

> **Re: Vacant Room**
> 
> * * *
> 
> Akaashi Keiji <akaashi.keiji@toyko.uni.jp>
> 
> To: sugawara.koushi@toyko.uni.jp
> 
> Good morning Sugawara-san,  
>  Today at 20:00 would be perfect. If you would kindly send me the address, that would be wonderful. Looking forward to meeting you and your roommate.  
>  Sincerely, Akaashi Keiji

  
  


Akaashi sat in a chair across from the two students—a brunette with the fluffiest hair he had ever seen, Oikawa Tooru, and a silver-haired with a beauty mark under his eye that rivaled Marylin Monroe, Sugawara Koushi. 

They first covered the foundation of college small talk—their majors. Akaashi discovered that Oikawa was not only the starting setter on the volleyball team but also majoring in Astrophysics, and Suga, as he insisted on being called, was majoring in Education. Akaashi shared that he hadn’t fully decided on a major, but was leaning towards studying Literature. 

Then, they moved to questions to determine Akaashi’s potential as a roommate. _What are Akaashi’s cleaning habits?_ His personal space—like his bedroom—must be organized and clean, and he is good at cleaning up after himself in shared spaces. _How often does he plan to have friends over?_ Not often at all, especially considering he has yet to make a friend. _Why was he looking for an apartment a week into the semester?_ Easy, to get away from a creepy, crazy roommate. 

As an awkward silence fell on the group. The two on the couch exchanged a glance, not knowing exactly how to reply to the information. Akaashi decided it was the right time to ask some questions of his own.

“So which one of you bakes?” He asked.

“That would be me.” Suga raised his hand slightly, a toothy grin across his face. 

“Are you also the one responsible for the calligraphy on the roommate ad?” Akaashi was simply curious. Afterall, it had been an interesting ad visually.

Suga opened his mouth to reply, but Oikawa interrupted him before he could make a sound. “Excuse you?! Does _he_ ”—Oikawa pointed a finger at Suga—“look like someone who would spend time mastering the art of calligraphy?”

“But aren’t you an athlete?” It was the wrong question to ask. Akaashi watched Suga chuckle behind his hands as Oikawa scoffed, looking as if he was ready to fight Akaashi.

“It’s called being multidimensional. I can be the best setter to ever walk on this campus-” 

“Jar,” Suga interrupted. 

“-and have pretty handwriting,” Oikawa handed some money to Suga, who placed it in one of two medium-sized glass jars on the small table to the left of the couch.

The jar had the word “Douchebag” painted onto it in the same handwriting that had been on the roommate poster. The jar next to it was the same except with the word “Pun,” and both were filled with yen. 

“So, you like cookies and you’re pretty, but do you like volleyball because this one never shuts up about it.” 

“I played in high school. My team wasn’t very good though, we never made it to nationals.”

“It’s okay, neither did Oikawa,” Suga said with a smug smirk, making sure to look Oikawa in the eyes.

“Mean Suga-chan!” Oikawa punched Suga’s arm—the other taking it in stride as if he had planned the reaction—before pointing an accusatory finger at his roommate. “At least I played in every game. You weren’t even a starter your third year, and you only made it to nationals because of chibi-chan’s crazy speed and jump.” 

“You made it to nationals? What high school did you go to?” Akaashi asked, trying to keep the conversation going when Oikawa began to pout and stare at the floor, arms crossed.

“I went to Karasuno.”

“Oh, I saw you match against Nekoma. Those were some crazy rallies.”

“They really were,” Suga chuckled. “What high school did you go to? Oh, and what position did you play. Both Oikawa and I were setter’s on our teams.”

“I went to Suzumeoka... I was also a setter.”

“Crazy! Seems like fate that we would all be setters like that,” Suga said, turning to Oikawa, who was still pouting and mumbled something incoherent. Suga rolled his eyes and tugged Oikawa’s arm as he got up from the couch. “Will you excuse us for a moment.” 

He guided the moping setter through the apartment to his room down the hall so they could discuss freely. Inside the room, Suga gave Oikawa a quick punch to the gut, which elicited a loud “HEY!” 

“I have a good feeling about him,” Suga said.

“You say that every single time,” Oikawa accused, still clutching his stomach. “But, he does seem the most _normal_ of the people we have met.”

“And he was a setter, so it seems like fate.”

“ _But_ , he seems kind of formal. What if he is no _fuuuunnn_ ,” Oikawa whined. 

“Trust me, I suspect he will fit in just fine. Like I said, I have a good feeling about this one”—Suga held up a finger as Oikawa opened his mouth—“An actual good feeling. I don’t think Akaashi is as proper as he presents.”

  
  


Akaashi moved in the next day. He skipped his morning class to pack up his things, hoping not to be caught by his stalker roommate. He hadn’t brought too much to fill the dorm, so everything fit into his backpack, suitcase, and one box. Though not the easiest to carry by himself, it was doable.

He locked up the room before turning in his key. He thought about his now former roommate coming back to a half empty room and no note explaining Akaashi’s sudden departure. A part of him thought what he was doing was cruel, but it was quieted by the rationale that his roommate had been literally crazy.

The prior experience made living with Oikawa and Suga a walk in the park. Those first couple days had been a breath of fresh air—a reset for Akaashi. He finally started to settle into his college life and routines. Akaashi appreciated the way they always knocked and waited for a reply before entering his room and, most importantly, the way they did not go through his things or watch him while he slept. 

Oikawa and Suga found Akaashi to be a little reserved and shy. His routine seemed to be waking up, going to class, coming home, studying, eating, studying some more, and then sleeping. No matter how many times Oikawa and Suga offered for Akaashi to join them studying in the living room or gossiping over their morning coffee, he would always say no. By the third day since Akaashi had moved in, Oikawa started to worry they had made a mistake.

“It has to be him, right? I mean, we are likable, aren’t we?” Oikawa asked, eyes staring in the direction Akaashi had just left.

“ _I’ve_ never heard a complaint about myself, but _you_ do have your off days,” Suga teased. 

“Rude!” Oikawa slammed his hands onto their rickety, poorly constructed, metal island. Suga, unphased, smirked at his friend and took another sip of coffee. 

“You know I love you despite your insufferable talent in everything you do,” Suga said as he held out a pastry he had made the night before, a peace offering which Oikawa gladly accepted. “I’m sure Akaashi will come around eventually.”

“What if he never does? What if he never wants to spend time with us?” Oikawa asked between bites.

Suga watched his friend, who had just been angry at him, happily bit into the pastry with a wide smile. “You know, we could bribe him,” Suga suggested.

  
  


Akaashi came home that evening to the smell of freshly baked cookies, and after taking off his shoes, he followed his nose into the kitchen, where Suga was pulling another batch of cookies from the oven. 

The kitchen appeared as if a tornado had passed through. There were bowls with remnants of batter strewn across the counter, flour covering every inch of surface, and ingredients piled up on top each other to make room for the cookies cooling off on a metal rack. In the center of their wobbly island, there was a plate of fresh cookies ready for the taking.

“Evening Suga-san,” Akaashi greeted, repositioning his backpack on his shoulder, eyes fixated on the plate of sweets.

“Akaashi! How was your day?” Suga asked while dumping a freshly baked batch onto the metal rack to cool.

“It was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.” There were a few beats of silence before Akaashi realized he should probably ask Suga how he was doing as well.

“My day was great, thanks for asking. Wednesdays are nice because I only have one lecture and then the rest of my day is free.”

Akaashi nodded and mumbled a “cool.” His mouth watered, no longer able to think about anything but the warm sweets in front of him.

“Would you like a cookie?” It was definitely more of a rhetorical question, Suga knew Akaashi wanted to eat one and was just waiting for the offer to be made,

“Yes please, they look amazing Suga-san. Thank you so much.” Akaashi took a cookie and shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

“Oikawa and I are going to watch a movie tonight if you wanted to join.”

Akaashi placed a hand over his mouth as he chewed quicker to answer Suga. “Thank you, but I actually have a lot of work to do still.”

“Well at least take a couple cookies to go.” Suga grabbed a small plate from their cupboard and started to pile cookies onto it. Akaashi muttered a thanks as he accepted a plate full of cookies from Suga.

Akaashi disappeared down the hall towards his room, then Oikawa popped up from where he had been hiding near Suga’s feet. His hands moved to the cookies, taking one in each hand. He shook one cookie at Suga as he said, “So much for your great plan.”

Suga rolled his eyes. “I did everything I could short of tying him up and forcing him to hang out with us. Although-”

“No, we are not tying up our new roommate, that is just crazy,” Oikawa said, taking a bit out of the cookie, eyes rolling back and humming as the chocolate melted in his mouth.

“Crazy fun if you ask me. Also, why did you hide when he came in?” Suga snatched the second cookie from Oikawa’s hand and took a bite.

“Hey!” Oikawa protested and Suga smiled, taking another bite. Oikawa reached to retrieve the remaining cookie in Suga’s hand. 

“I didn’t want him to feel overwhelmed with both of us staring at him,” he said and pulled off a piece of the sweet.

“What would you have done if he had said yes? Just jumped up from the ground and revealed yourself to be a weirdo who hid from him?”

“ _Noooooo_ , I would have had you distract him and then I would have crawled on the floor to the door and pretended I had just gotten home.”

“And if he noticed your shoes were already here when he came in?” Suga smirked as Oikawa became flustered by the logical holes in his plan.

“Well it doesn’t matter much now, does it? Since your plan didn’t work.”

“I dare you to do better.”

  
  


The next day during his morning run, Oikawa picked up some fresh fruit as well as treats from a nearby bakery, and before either of his roommates awoke, he prepared coffee using the “Super Secret Iwa-chan Method,” which was to simply say, he used the French press Iwaizumi had gifted him instead of their old, stained coffee maker. 

Looking at the spread on their island, Oikawa started to worry that maybe he had taken it a step too far.

#####  **Conversation with Refreshing Bitch ✌️:**

I know you’re up bitch<<  
Get out of bed and come to the kitchen<<

>>And whyyyy, pray tell, would I get out of bed to hang out with you in the kitchen  
>>I’m quite comfy here

Because you love me<<  
Because you can’t survive without seeing my beautiful face<<  
Because it’s been over 8 hours since you’ve heard my voice and you’re dying<<

>>You realize that you’re supposed to butter me up, not boost your own ego, right?  
>>What do you really need?

I don’t want to be out here alone when Akaashi wakes up<<

>>Sounds like a you problem

I also made coffee and bought treats on my morning run<<

>>WHY DIDN’T YOU START WITH THAT!!

  
  


Akaashi woke up to the sound of laughter and the faint smell of coffee wafting into his room. He groaned as he rolled over to look at the time: 8:45 . _Fuck_. 

Akaashi sprang into action, quickly changing into clean clothes and shoving items into his backpack. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he ran to the bathroom and gave his teeth a quick brush, and wet his hair to fix the hair sticking up where he had pressed his face against his pillow the night before. Ready at record speed, he made his way out.

“Akaaaaashi!! Good morning!” Suga’s voice called from the kitchen. Akaashi paused. He had a limited time to walk to his class, but it felt rude to ignore his roommates, so he decided to take a quick detour to the kitchen.

“Good morning, Suga-san, Oikawa-san,” Akaashi said, eyes darting towards the entryway. 

“Please, just call me Suga already.”

“Would you like some breakfast? There is also coffee,” Oikawa offered, arms pointing towards the breakfast spread in front of them. 

“Oh, that’s a nice offer, but I really must get to class.”

“At least take some coffee to go.” Oikawa reached into the cupboard to take out a to-go mug and poured fresh coffee in before Akaashi could protest. “Black or with cream?”

“Black. Thank you, I’m running very late this morning, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop on my way to class like I normally do,” Akaashi said, reaching over the island to take the mug from Oikawa.

“You might say you are running _latte_ ,” Suga said, raising an eyebrow at the others.

“What?” Akaashi asked.

“You know, latte... late... they sound similar and have a one letter difference...” Suga gestured at Akaashi, confused how he had not understood the joke.

“This is just regular coffee, not a latte,” Akaashi said, taking a sip before bidding them a goodbye and running off to class. The two of them watched him leave in silence, listening for the front door to close. 

The two of them alone once more, now silent. Exhausted with another failed attempt, Suga slapped a hand to face, sighing as he rubbed his eyebrows. The silence broke when Oikawa whispered, “Jar.” 

  
  


Akaashi zoned out his professor discussing common literary devices as he spun the coffee cup around. The coffee Oikawa had made was definitely better than the cup he would normally buy on his way, and for that he was thankful. Yet, every sip almost felt a little... bitter. His new roommates had been very nice to him so far—providing him with coffee and cookies and always inviting him to join them to hang out—and Akaashi always ran away to class or his room.

He reminded himself that he was supposed to at least attempt to make friends, though it wasn’t that easy for Akaashi. He couldn’t remember a time when he had actually had a friend—maybe his neighbor back in grade school, but they had been forced to play together since their mothers liked to hang out. If Akaashi was being honest with himself, he had never really been close to anyone in his life.

Akaashi opened his laptop and typed into the search bar: how to be friends with your roommates. Apparently Akaashi wasn’t the only hopeless person who needed help with this as the search yielded hits in the millions. After a quick browse, Akaashi clicked on the result titled _4 Simple Steps to Become Friends With Your Roommates_. Four was a doable number.

1\. Initiate conversation when you can. 

Oikawa and Suga had surely attempted to start conversations with Akaashi when he was around. They always asked him about his day and if anything interesting had happened. Akaashi tried to remember to reciprocate, but he wasn’t great at keeping conversations going and was even worse at starting a new conversation.

2\. Share food. 

Again, Oikawa and Suga had without a doubt shared with Akaashi. Suga had made the cookies yesterday and Oikawa provided him with a coffee this morning. Akaashi wasn’t much of a chef, so he probably couldn’t make them anything, and, honestly, the thought of sharing his food kind of annoyed Akaashi. He wasn’t opposed to sharing, but his food was _his_ food. Though, they could just all eat together, order take out maybe? Akaashi tucked away the thought.

3\. Give them space. 

Given the past couple days, Akaashi thought about how it was more that Oikawa and Suga were giving him space. They let Akaashi retreat to his room and very rarely interrupted him. Besides the moments making his meals, Akaashi had barely spent time in the communal spaces. 

Akaashi realized that Oikawa and Suga had already done three of the four things on the list, which only made him feel a little worse. His roommates were trying to be his friend and they probably thought he was ignoring them, but Akaashi was just unsure how exactly to make friends. Maybe the fourth item on the list would help.

4\. Invite them to hang outside of the apartment. 

It felt doable, if he could actually work up the courage to invite them out. Maybe invite them to go to a movie? That seemed like a good option, then he wouldn’t necessarily have to fill the whole time with conversation as they would be watching a movie. Though, it also seemed like a cheap option, a cop out. 

Akaashi typed in a new search: things to do in Tokyo on a Friday night.

“Excuse me.” A quiet voice entered Akaashi’s space. He turned to see a smiley blonde he recognized from a few of his classes. “If you are looking for something to do tonight, there is a poetry open mic at the cafe I work at,” she said, pulling out a small flyer from her notebook. 

“Thanks,” Akaashi said, though he didn’t really mean it, and took the flyer. She had obviously been watching what he had been doing over his shoulder, and Akaashi was someone who valued privacy.

“You should come, maybe even get on stage. You seem like the type to write poetry,” she continued.

“Maybe.” Akaashi turned his head back to listen to the lecture, effectively ending the conversation.

Though it was an option only suggested—as far as Akaashi could determine—out of pity, it was a decent option. Poetry would give them the option to be quiet if things got awkward, but the event being in a cafe might allow for small talk during the event instead of the 2 hours of silence a movie would provide.

  
  


“People like me, right?” Oikawa asked his teammates as they changed for practice.

“All the time? Absolutely not. You can be very annoying sometimes,” Suna said without thinking. 

“WHAT?!? How could you say something like that?” Oikawa slammed his locker closed with a huff. He sat on the bench tying his shoes and pouting.

Bokuto plopped next to the setter, slapping his back and knocking the wind out of him. “Don’t worry, some people find me annoying too. But, when I get sad about it, I remember that I am great at volleyball, and that is all that matters.”

Oikawa screamed into his own hands.

“What did I do?” Bokuto asked toward their teammates.

“I don’t think Oikawa appreciated being compared to you,” Sakusa said from across the room while Yaku leaned forward in a belly laugh. 

  
  


Oikawa and Suga were sitting on the couch in the living room when Akaashi got back that evening. They continued to converse, seemingly not interested in Akaashi as he walked through the room and to the kitchen.

Akaashi tried to not pay attention as his roommates made what sounded like a grocery list. Instead, he washed the to-go mug from this morning, methodically cleaning every crevice to avoid stains, and after rinsing it with hot water, he placed it upside down in the rack to dry.

“Evening,” Akaashi said as he entered the living room again.

“Evening Akaashi! Got any fun plans tonight?” Suga asked.

“Oh, umm... not really, I guess. What about you two?”

“We were thinking about making face masks,” Oikawa said, but stopped there. He didn’t make an offer for Akaashi to join, which the Akaashi noticed since it was the first time they hadn’t invited him to join.

Akaashi wondered if it was too late. If he had waited too long to be their friends. He wondered if they had finally given up, assuming that Akaashi would always say no. But, that wasn’t true. Akaashi was ready to try. He wanted to be their friend, he always wanted to, but it was just not natural for him.

Akaashi nodded and began to make his way toward the hallway. He stepped, just passing the couch when he stopped. He wasn’t sure where the courage came from, but somehow the words were coming out of his mouth and he couldn’t stop them.

He turned around and faced the two on the couch. His mouth opened and for a moment there was silence. Oikawa was about to open his mouth to talk when Suga gripped his arm, signalling him to stop because he could tell that Akaashi was about to say something. 

“I was invited to a poetry night and... well... iwaswonderingifyouwouldwanttocomewith,” he blurted out.

“Huh?” Suga replied, knowing full well what Akaashi had just asked. 

“He asked if we wanted to go to a poetry thing tonight,” Oikawa said, giving Suga a warning gaze to not press their luck.

Akaashi’s hands instinctively moved behind his back, his fingers twisted and intertwined in each other. It was no more than ten seconds before the pair agreed, but it felt like the longest moment of Akaashi’s life.

Moments after agreeing, Oikawa and Suga jumped off the couch, discarding the list they had been writing onto the coffee table as they left to get ready. They each departed to their rooms, Akaashi to set down his backpack and just have a brief moment to relax, and the other two changed from their lounge clothes they had been wearing into something a little more presentable. Oikawa insisted on redoing his hair, which meant another half hour before the three left for the cafe. 

Oikawa and Suga had never been to a poetry event—and neither had Akaashi, though he wouldn’t admit it—so they were unsure what exactly to expect. When they arrived, everything was relatively quiet. A few employees were setting up the microphones on the small stage, patrons were purchasing . They found a table closer to the back with a fair view of the stage. They watched as people came into the cafe as poets walked onto the stage. 

It was bad. Oikawa and Suga had no idea what poetry was necessarily supposed to sound like, but whatever they were listening to now was terrible. It wasn’t even the way the performers were monotone in delivery, but the topics and composition of the poems themselves were shallow.

“Wow, I’ve never heard anyone put words together in this way before,” Suga commented, searching Akaashi’s face for reassurance that this was bad—to no avail. 

“It’s uh... definitely the best poem I’ve heard today,” Oikawa added—this was the only poem he had heard today.

“This is the single worst fucking thing I’ve heard in my life, and I’ve heard my little cousin’s poem about worms,” Akaashi stated.

Oikawa and Suga both turned to look at their new roommate, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. It was not only the most Akaashi had spoken to them but also so blunt it took the pair by surprise. Akaashi had said the perfect thing to clue his roommates in on how sassy he actually was. After a moment, Suga turned to meet Oikawa’s gaze, giving him a look that said, _I told you so_. 

“So happy to hear you say that, because I was worried it was my lack of exposure to _poetry_ that made it sound terrible,” Oikawa said.

Akaashi finally took his eyes off the stage to look at the two beside him. They were practically chuckling into their hands.

“I am pretty sure I could write something better than this shit... Scratch that, you two could come up with something better.” Akaashi could not have known what that comment would spark in the pair. 

“I feel like that is a challenge for us to come up with something worse than what we are hearing now,” Suga said, leaning in toward Oikawa. 

“Agreed. Coming up with something better would be a piece of cake, but coming up with something worse, now that is a challenge,” Oikawa added.

“Please don-” Akaashi didn’t get to finish before Suga was out of his chair and signed him and Oikawa up for a spot.

Three bad poems later, Oikawa and Suga were called to the stage. They two briefly discussed before each taking a microphone, Oikawa bowing his head.

“This poem is titled: Space is a Place,” Suga said before bowing his head as well.

Suga’s head shot up. “Space is a place where...”

“Saturn would float on top of water, if we made a bathtub big enough,” Oikawa said, looking up at the crowd.

“Space is a place where…” Suga’s arm shot out as if he was putting the audience under a spell.

“Venus is hotter than a self-cleaning oven and Jupiter has a moon that looks like pepperoni pizza.” Oikawa spun around as he moved his free head down in front of his face.

“Space is a place where..." Suga crouched down low to the ground.

“Aliens rule and humans are mere guests in the place we call space.” Oikawa placed a foot on Suga’s knee triumphantly.

The two kept going, Suga repeating the same phrase, prompting Oikawa to say something about aliens or present a fact about space. A part of Akaashi wanted to leave—to get up and walk away pretending to not know the pair on the stage. Another part of him wanted to sit there and yell obscenities at them. He decided that hiding behind his hand and peaking through his fingers was a fair compromise between the two.

It was obvious they were not taking it seriously. Their performance was a joke, and yet, it had probably been the best thing on that stage all night. It moved so far past bad that it had circled back around to actually being good. Their confidence and the complete awareness that they were creating bad poetry seemed to almost be some commentary on itself making it actually incredible in some ways. 

Though, not everyone was as entertained as Akaashi, which was obvious from the owner of the cafe glaring at the stage and then looking over at him—the short blonde who had invited him was also watching him with daggers for eyes. 

Oikawa and Suga finally ended their performance. Sharing awkward glances between each other, the audience snapped as was custom, though no one seemed quite sure what had just happened. To be honest, neither was Akaashi.

  
  


The three stumble into their apartment, laughing as Oikawa and Suga reenact their terrible poem. They end up in the living room, Oikawa and Suga snuggled on the couch as Akaashi laid on the ground, staring up at the ceiling.

“I think that was both the funniest thing I have ever witnessed as well as the single most embarrassing moment of my fucking life,” he said, shaking his head slowly, eyes still pointed upward. 

“Who was that blonde girl giving you the dirtiest of looks?” Suga asked.

“Someone in my classes. She is the one who gave me the flyer to the event.”

“Well you might want to skip classes for a couple days. Because if looks could kill, we would all be dead by now,” Oikawa said.

Akaashi laughed, “Well, I don’t really give a fuck because it’s not like I wanted to be friends with her anyway.”

“You know, you come off as quite polite, but you have quite the potty mouth, don’t you?” Suga chuckled.

“Oh, that’s his jar! A good old fashioned swear jar,” Oikawa interjected. 

“My jar?” Akaashi sat up, resting his head on the coffee table and he stared at the pair on the couch.

“Yeah, like Oikawa’s douchebag jar and my pun jar.” Suga pointed to the jars Akaashi had noticed his first day here. “If you violate your jar, then you must place money in it.”

Suga found a spare mason jar in his craft supplies and came back with it and some paint and brushes. Oikawa diligently went to work drawing “swear” in calligraphic script. They placed it next to the other two.

All these years Akaashi thought he had been incapable of making friends. He thought a solo life was one he had been okay with, but now he had Oikawa and Suga and that was so much better.

Suga placed his arm around Akaashi, pulling him in closer. “Welcome to the family bitch baby.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank al and ami for continually indulging the wild adventures of aka/suga/oi on twitter. It's a revolution and y'all should join in 😊
> 
> There is currently a poll on my twitter to decide what story I should write next, so if you want to have an opinion [follow this link](https://twitter.com/mimimortis/status/1319450303775690752?s=20). (Closes 10/25 night PDT)
> 
> I am just publishing these as I finish them, so who knows how long before the next one


	2. The Sweater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa and Suga find a mysterious sweater on the hallway floor in the morning and believe it belongs to someone Akaashi brings home after a party. They spend the morning remembering the night before.
> 
> In this chapter we have crumbs of AkaEnno, AkaKono, and AkaKita
> 
> Chapter specific tags: Partying, Drinking Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse the writing, I was running out of steam and also my beta has been very busy lately so it was post this now or wait weeks

Oikawa and Suga stared at a mysterious blue knit sweater that had at some point been discarded onto the floor of their hallway in a seemingly hasty manner. The owner of the sweater was unknown. What they did know was that neither of them had brought someone home from the party last night, which meant that the owner must have spent the night in Akaashi’s room.

“Who do you think it belongs to?” Oikawa asked as he nudged the sweater with his foot.

Suga thought back on the night before and the party, but his memories were fairly hazy—fogged by the drunken stupor he had been in. He picked up the sweater, bringing it to his nose. The cologne scent was familiar, but he couldn’t exactly place it, and the smell plus his hangover was not a good combination.

“If we are going to figure this out, we’re gonna have to go back through everything that happened last night, and to do that, I am going to need some aspirin.” 

Suga tossed the sweater at Oikawa and walked towards their bathroom.

“Grab me some too!” Oikawa called out.

“Only if you make us some coffee.”

_ The night before...  _

_ 10:03 PM _

The trio stood in front of the apartment door, waiting for their knock to be answered. Muffled music could be heard through the barrier along with laughter and shouts of the party guests. There was an odd juxtaposition of the calm in the hallway where they stood and the party lay behind the boundary; the odd feeling of knowing that the moment the door opened, they would be thrown into the social gathering.

Atsumu opened the door-

“It wasn’t Atsumu, it was Osamu,” Oikawa corrected.

“Well they’re twins, so it’s an easy mistake to make.”

“Well, actually no. Atsumu has that piss-colored hair and Osamu’s hair is grey, so it makes them pretty identifiable”

Suga sighed. “May I continue?”

Oikawa nodded, handing Suga a cup of coffee.

_ 10:04 PM _

Osamu opened the door, inviting the three of them into the apartment he shared with his boyfriend, Suna. While taking off their shoes, they exchanged pleasantries and introduced Akaashi as a newcomer before entering the party in full.

“Oikawa! Suga!” A girl with reddish-brown hair called out. She briefly turned back to the taller girl she had been talking with, and after bidding an adieu with a touch of the arm, she crossed the room to meet the group at the room’s entrance.

“Yukie!” Suga met her in a quick hug. When they pulled apart she looked towards Oikawa, who gave her a side hug and a kiss on the top of her head, which he seemed to only do because of her height and that earned him a light-hearted punch in the arm.

“Are you two going to introduce me to the new guy?” Yukie asked, moving her attention to Akaashi.

“Yukie, this is Akaashi, our new roommate,” Suga said, gesturing between the two.

Akaashi greeted Yukie with a small bow.

“You sure found a polite roommate.” She turned toward Suga with eyebrows raised. “Does he know how crazy you two are? You aren’t holding him hostage are you?”

Suga chuckled. “Akaashi just takes awhile to warm up to people, but he fits in well, but I do think it’s probably best not to overwhelm him tonight.”

“Then it’s probably good that Bokuto isn’t here.”

“Where is Bokkun?” Oikawa asked as he scanned the room for his teammates. “And where is Yaku?”

“Apparently Nekoma is having some get together this weekend, and Kuroo dragged Bokuto for  _ emotional support _ ”—Yukie placed air quotes around the words—“or something like that.”

“Who’s this Bokuto person?” Akaashi asked—curious as to why they all seemed to be in agreement that it was better he wasn’t at the party that evening.

“He’s the ace of the volleyball team, and he is wild and annoying, and he has this crazy hair because he wants to look like an owl,” Oikawa answered.

“I’ll point him out at the next volleyball game.” Suga placed a hand on Akaashi’s shoulder with a small smile and continued. “Though, you would be able to easily determine who he is on the court from that description.” 

“But what’s important now is finding something to drink,” Oikawa said as he clapped his hands together and faced the group. 

Yukie led the three of them through the dimmed living room. As they passed various groups, they were greeted and gave promises to return once properly supplied with drinks. 

A couple people in the room seemed to take notice of Akaashi as they passed. The first was Ennoshita, a recent graduate from Karasuno who was talking with Daichi, Asahi, and Komi. Though he hadn’t said anything, Suga noticed the way his kohai became speechless at the sight of their new roommate when they passed by. 

The second person to notice Akaashi in a similar way was Konoha when Yukie was stopped briefly by him and Kaori to settle a band dispute—apparently the three of them had created a small indie band recently. Konoha had been a little bolder than Ennoshita. He actually greeted Akaashi and made some comment, asking him if he was into musicians, before Yukie and Kaori both hit him.

As the conversation with Kaori and Konoha seemed to be a longer one, Yukie informed the trio that all the drinks were in the kitchen and assumed Oikawa and Suga remembered where that was. 

The trio entered the kitchen to find Suna talking with Osamu and their old teammate, Kita. The small group was comparing—for some unknown reason—Ponyo and Frozen, discussing which movie was better, but neither group paid much attention to each other.

Oikawa and Suga beelined for the alcohol, pulling Akaashi with them. They looked through the stash, grabbing a few bottles they deemed drinkable. Akaashi stood next to them and watched them work in mixing drinks, fidgeting with his fingers.

“I just want to point out that my younger sister isn’t into Frozen,” Suna said before taking a sip of beer.

“Yer sister isn’t really into anything,” Kita replied.

Oikawa shoved a drink into Akaashi’s hand, and then he yelled, “Ooo, shots!” Akaashi looked at his drink, confused because it was definitely not a shot. 

He opened his mouth to inform his roommate of this fact, but Oikawa was peering behind him. 

“Sun-Sun, where do you keep your shot glasses?” Oikawa asked.

“And salt!” Suga added.

“Yes, and salt... Also, limes or lemons if you have any.” 

Suna rolled his eyes. He slipped his arm out from where it had been wrapped around Osamu and looked through the kitchen cupboards and their refrigerator. The conversation in the room came to a halt while he did so.

Suna brought back a few small glasses, a small knife, and salt and lemon. He placed them on the counter for Oikawa and was met by a disappointed look. “This is the best you are getting”—Oikawa opened his mouth to make a smart comment, but Suna responded quicker—“I don’t want to hear it, you are lucky we have this.” 

Oikawa took the items without a word and returned to his work with Suga. Akaashi leaned up against the counter, drink in hand, idly paying attention to both his roommates and the other group in the kitchen.

“I’m just saying that Frozen has been a box office hit for months now,” Osamu continued when his boyfriend returned by his side.

“Box office numbers aren’t necessarily an indication of being  _ better _ ,” Akaashi interjected, talking into his cup.

Everyone turned their attention to him—Oikawa and Suga wondering what exactly he was talking about, Suna and Kita wondering who he was, and Osamu wondering why he had commented in a conversation he hadn’t been a part of. 

“You know, the new guy has a point,” Kita said.

“This  _ new guy _ is Akaashi... He’s our new roommate,” Suga cooed, peeking out around Akaashi to the others—Oikawa still messing with the alcohol behind them.

“Well, Akaashi, you seem to have some thoughts, so why don’t you enlighten us.” Kita welcomed Akaashi into the discussion. 

Akaashi looked to Suga, not exactly sure why—possibly searching for permission or reassurance. He got neither and both when Suga shrugged and gave him a little nudge to join the group of Inarizaki alumni.

“The way I see it, box office success often has more to do with marketing than necessarily the quality of a movie, though a good movie with little marketing can have box office success and vice versa-”

Akaashi continued to discuss comparing movies based on their narrative and storytelling techniques while Suga and Oikawa poured themselves several shots.

“ _ Salud _ ,” Oikawa said as he clinked the glass to Suga’s, tapped it back down on the counter, and then threw it back.

“Then we took tequila shots and you licked the salt from my hand, and we chased the shots with Sake. Then we-”

“Alright, I get it, we drank a lot. But that has nothing to do with Akaashi anymore, you are just telling me why my head is killing me now,” Oikawa interrupted. “What was the next thing you remember that would give us a clue about who Akaashi might have taken home?”

_ 10:42 PM _

“Oikawa! I heard you’re here bitch!” A voice boomed from the apartment entrance. 

Oikawa slammed the shot Suga had just handed him onto the counter and ran out of the kitchen screaming, “Makki!!!!”

Abandoned, Suga picked up the leftover shot and saddled up next to Akaashi, who was still discussing merits of animation with Osamu, Suna, and Kita. 

“Drink this,” Suga ordered, handing Akaashi the shot Oikawa had left. 

Akaashi took it and threw it back, a face of disgust as the alcohol burned his throat. He followed the shot with a sip of his drink, but it wasn’t much help. He took a few deep breaths through his nose.

“Shouldn’t you go a little easy on the alcohol?” Kita asked Suga.

“Don’t worry, Kita, we live close to here and I am actually really great at navigating my way home while intoxicated,” Suga informed them. 

“I somehow doubt that is true,” Osamu said under his breath, which was heard by everyone but Suga.

“If you all don’t mind, I’m going to steal Akaashi.”

Suga didn’t wait for a reply before he was pulling Akaashi out of the kitchen. Akaashi gave a weak wave, meeting eyes with Kita briefly; his stomach flipped over itself and Akaashi assumed it was the alcohol. 

Suga led Akaashi through the apartment to the group of Karasuno alumni they had passed by on their way to the kitchen.

“Suga!” Ennoshita called out, then he stiffened when he made eye contact with Akaashi.

“Hey!” Suga greeted the group and then turned to Akaashi. “Akaashi, these are some of my old teammates: Daichi, Asahi, and Ennoshita,” Suga introduced them from right to left. “Everyone, this is Akaashi. He’s Oikawa’s and my new roommate.”

“How long have you been living with Suga and the other one?” Daichi asked.

“Just about a week.”

“And they haven’t scared you off yet?” Daichi seemed genuinely shocked. He turned to Suga, eyebrows raised. “Are you two curbing your chaotic energy?”

“I actually find living with Oikawa and Suga quite enjoyable,” Akaashi said, not really answering Daichi’s original question, but it still provided enough information.

Daichi chuckled. “Never thought I would hear ‘living with Oikawa and Suga’ and ‘enjoyable’ in the same sentence.”

“Daichi, be carefu-” Asahi didn’t have time to finish before Daichi received a swift punch to the gut.

Akaashi rested a hand on Suga’s shoulder, smiling when their eyes met. “I appreciate knowing you are willing to fight at a moment's notice when disrespected.”

“Awe, babe, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me yet!”

“Oh my gosh, there’s another one of them,” Daichi said, rubbing his stomach.

“Ennoshita... Ennoshita? Are you okay?” Asahi asked, concerned for the man who had completely stopped moving when Suga had introduced Akaashi. His mouth slightly open, his eyes glossy, lost in thought.

“Ennoshita may have been smitten with our little Akaashi, but he wasn’t wearing a blue sweater,” Oikawa said as he poured more coffee into his mug, doing the same for Suga when he held out his own empty cup.

“He could have taken it off early in the night, so we should keep him as a possible option.”

“Fine, but I think there is a more obvious option.”

“And who would that be?” Suga asked, sipping his coffee.

“Kita.” Oikawa said it as if it had been the most obvious option.

“Kita wasn’t wearing a blue sweater,” Suga mimicked Oikawa’s protest from a few moments before.

“ _ He could have taken it off early in the night _ .”

Suga rolled his eyes, wondering if Oikawa had understood his sarcasm, and motioned for him to go on with his tale.

_ 11:49 PM _

Oikawa eventually made his way back to the kitchen—this time with Hanamaki. He felt giddy and warm from the alcohol he had already consumed. He was passed the feeling of being buzzed and had entered a blissful drunken state. His energy multiplied after his umpteenth shot of the night, the feeling as if on his tiptoes being pulled up by his head. 

He felt unencumbered by worries. His body moved to act on his urges, and before he even realized what he was doing, he left Hanamaki in the kitchen to find his roommates—Oikawa Tooru wanted to dance. 

He found Suga and Akaashi chatting with Karasuno, and he wrapped his arms around their shoulders. There was a half-hearted apology for taking the two away from the conversation as he pulled them to the middle of the living room.

“Is it that time already?” Suga’s question was rhetorical. Unlike Akaashi, Suga knew exactly what was about to happen.

Oikawa nodded. He unplugged whoever’s phone had been hooked up to the speakers, receiving a distant protest, and replaced it with his own. He pressed play and turned up the volume, pop music filling the room. 

“What are we doing?” Akaashi asked. 

“We are dancing!” Oikawa grabbed his roommates hands and started swaying back and forth. Suga had no reservations about starting to jump around, flailing his free arm, and it took no time at all for Akaashi to put aside his embarrassment after seeing how bad his roommates were dancing...

“Can you fast forward to the part about why you think Kita is in Akaashi’s room?” Suga asked, wondering why Oikawa had gone on for five minutes about them drunk dancing.

“I’m setting the mood Suga-chan~” Oikawa sing-songed. “A good story requires exposition.”

“Well at the rate you are telling this story, the guy is going to come out of Akaashi’s room before you even bring Kita into your story.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll fast forward a little.”

_ 12:21 AM _

“Oikawa! Can you believe these bitches have never played the Pocky game?” Hanamaki said, throwing an arm over Oikawa and pointing to a group of his teammates and a few others. 

“Pocky Game?” Akaashi looked to Oikawa and then Suga for an answer. He’d never been out partying before, so he didn’t have the same knowledge of games played at get togethers. However, Akaashi took solace in the fact that other people also seemed to not know what it was as well.

Suga and Oikawa just smirked; the two of them and Hanamaki seemed to hatch an evil plan.

Osamu dragged out a study table for the group to huddle around; Suna found some Pocky in the kitchen; Oikawa and Hanamaki prepared several shot glasses for the losers; and Suga briefly explained the rules to Akaashi and several others who were interested in playing, including Daichi, Ennoshita, Kita, and Komi. 

“So it’s pretty easy. Two people each take an end of the Pocky in their mouth and they bite on the stick until their lips meet. The first one to chicken out or drop the stick loses and has to take a shot.”

It was a pretty straight forward explanation, but Suga and Oikawa decided to start the game as an example anyway. 

“You’re gonna lose Suga-chan,” Oikawa taunted.

“Try me babe,” Suga said with a wink before placing one end of the Pocky in his mouth and turning to Oikawa. 

They munched slowly at the ends, a collective intake of breath from the spectators as their lips closed in on the middle of the Pocky stick. Oikawa stared into Suga’s eyes, challenging him to go further. Suga was not one to back down, so he munched on the last bit of Pocky and connected their lips, taking it a step further and playfully licking Oikawa’s bottom lip. 

Oikawa raised Suga again and leaned forward to initiate a full kiss, their tongues briefly entwining. He leaned forward to be almost on top of Suga, his hands cupping Suga’s face. The kiss lasted almost a minute before they pulled apart. 

“Please note, you don’t have to make out if your lips touch,” Hanamaki said, breaking the silence that had fallen on the group. “These two idiots just love one-upping each other.”

Even though they didn’t need to, Oikawa and Suga decided to both take a shot each because no winner meant they both lost. Then Suga turned to the left, initiating a round with Daichi. 

Daichi was confident at first, munching away, but then he could feel Suga breathe out from his nose and he hesitated. His eyes met Suga’s and he knew his old friend was not backing down. Daichi broke off the Pocky stick and threw back a shot. 

They continued around, both Daichi and Ennoshita losing to Komi. Then Ennoshita turned to his left and blushed, meeting Akaashi’s gaze. Ennoshita seemed to hesitate, so Akaashi took the lead and placed an end of a Pocky stick into his mouth. He leaned slightly forward toward Ennoshita, who took the other half into his own mouth. 

Ennoshita swallowed hard as Akaashi stared directly into his eyes, slowly munching forward. When Ennoshita failed to move forward on the stick at first, Akaashi raised an eyebrow, bringing the Karasuno alum back to the task at hand. In the end, he didn’t make it far, bailing with plenty of Pocky left and resigning to take another shot.

Akaashi flashed a quick look to his roommates, who matched Akaashi’s smug look with proud smiles for having brought Ennoshita to a blushing mess.

“Don’t get too cocky,” the voice to his left said. Akaashi turned to meet Kita’s eyes. 

Kita smirked at Akaashi, issuing a challenge between them. 

“Maybe you’ll be better at this than film analysis,” Akaashi taunted, referring to their past conversation in the kitchen.

Osamu’s mouth gaped open, not believing someone would talk to Kita like that. The usually stoic Suna even raised an eyebrow at Akaashi, but Kita just chuckled. “Ya have a pretty smart mouth fer someone who just started college.”

Akaashi grabbed another Pocky stick and placed an end in his mouth. When he faced Kita, he kept his gaze, not backing down or looking away, and Kita did the same as he wrapped his lips around the other end.

_ Munch. _ Akaashi’s eyes burned into Kita’s like fire, but the other was unfazed. In fact, Kita’s own eyes seemed to only amplify the heat and send it right back. Akaashi swallowed hard.

_ Munch _ . Akaashi felt an unfamiliar warmth as his cheeks were painted in a faint blush, Kita displaying a subtle smile further throwing him off.

_ Munch _ . Their noses were close, almost touching. Their gaze unwavering as they moved forward on the Pocky. There was only room for one more bite before their lips would meet. 

Kita took advantage of a brief moment of hesitation, delivering a final smirk. Akaashi bite down on his lip, backing away slightly, wavering his stare to look down briefly. He held his breath, and his shoulders tensed. 

“Better luck next time,” Kita said, holding out a full shot glass. Akaashi shook his head, realizing he had pulled away from the Pocky. 

He reached out to accept the glass—his fingers lightly grazing Kita’s. His eyes widened for a split second as their skin made contact, and then Akaashi composed himself and pulled his hand and the shot from Kita’s touch.

Kita kept his eyes on Akaashi as he threw the shot back. He watched as the glass touched his lips, his mouth opened to allow the alcohol to pour in, and his Adam’s apple bobbed slowly, the tilt of Akaashi’s neck extenuating the movement.

Hanamaki was the one to interrupt the moment, calling for the game to continue on, and Akaashi kept his eyes on Kita as he and Suna moved along the Pocky, looking away only when their lips touched.

Kita and Akaashi stole glances at each other as the game continued, though they never watched each other at the same time. Their bodies slowly shifted toward each other, leaning in as if being pulled by each other’s gravity. Each aware-

Suga slammed his hands on their kitchen island before slapping Oikawa repeatedly in the shoulder and vocalizing random sounds.

“Owe! Please use your words instead of hitting me,” Oikawa grabbed Suga’s wrist and firmly placed it onto the hard surface and away from his arm.

“It could be Konoha!”

“They only spent like two minutes together at the beginning of the night. How could-”

“No no, you forget, we played Flip Cup... Miyagi versus Tokyo... It was your idea to put Akaashi on a team with Konoha!” Oikawa tried to remember, but after the Pocky game, his night was more brief memories of laughter and arms thrown over his friends. 

Suga didn’t remember all the details, but he was starting to piece together a few more things from the night before.

_ 1:02 AM _

“WASHIO!!” The five Fukurodani alumni ran across the apartment to bury their friend in a hug—all of them toppling to the ground in a pile. 

“Way to be extra late,” Yukie teased as the group got back to their feet.

“Well, I wasn’t going to show up at all, but I got a threatening text from a certain someone that said I had to show up else I would wake up with my head shaved.”

Yukie and Kaori turned to Konoha, who feigned hurt that they would just assume it was him as Komi chuckled behind him. 

“It wasn’t Konoha, it was Suga,” Washio informed them.

Everyone turned to Suga and Oikawa, who were standing behind the group, Oikawa draped over Suga’s shoulder—drunkenly singing Suga’s praises and poking at his cheek. Suga met the gazes of the old Fukurodani team with an innocent smile.

“Care to explain?” Kaori asked.

“Well, we needed a rematch of Karasuno vs. Fukurodani in a game of Flip Cup. I texted Tanaka as well, but apparently he had a hot date that was worth risking my wrath for.”

“Why do you need Tanaaakaa? I’m right here you know!” Oikawa whined in Suga’s ear.

“You did not attend Karasuno High School,” Suga kindly informed his roommate.

“That may be, my dear, sweet roomie, but... we were all in Miyagi~” Oikawa sing-songed.

“Actually, that’s not the worst idea you’ve”—Oikawa voiced an objection, but Suga ignored it and continued— “ever had. We could do a Miyagi vs. Fukuroda-”

“Wait a minute, I am also from Miyagi, so that makes six people. Which means that teams are once again uneven,” Hanamaki pointed out, overhearing the conversation and inserting himself into the game as a Miyagi member.

“Makki~!! You’re still here!!” Oikawa gushed, switching over to hang on his shoulder.

“You yelled at me for having too much exposition in my story and now you are doing the same thing!” Oikawa objected.

“Everything in my story so far has been important information, your exposition was us drunk dancing. There is a difference, my friend.”

Oikawa crossed his arms and gave Suga the dirtiest look he could muster—his hangover making it easier. “Drunk dancing was an important aspect of the story.”

“Would you feel better if I fast-forward a little?” Suga asked and Oikawa responded with a nod.

_ 1:17 AM _

The group made their way into the kitchen and set up two rows of cups on either side of the table. Everything was ready besides the fact that the teams were still uneven.

“Oh, well I can sit this one out,” Asahi said, trying—with no avail—to hide his relief of not having to play.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course you have to play,” Suga and Daichi said at the same time, each placing a hand on a shoulder and ushering him forward to the line of cups filled with beer.

Komi suggested that someone from the Fukurodani team could go twice, but the two teams couldn’t agree on who would get to go a second time. 

“I got it!” Oikawa exclaimed before leaving briefly to grab Akaashi from the conversation he had been having with Inarizaki alumni and dragged him over to the table of cups. “Fukurodani is a Tokyo school and Akaashi also went to a Tokyo school. So we just make it Tokyo versus Miyagi.”

Akaashi protested, having no idea how to play, but it was a poor excuse when the object of the game was also the name of the game.

He took a spot between Konoha and Komi in the middle of the line, which gave him enough time to observe, but allowed Fukurodani to place their star players at the end to bring things home. 

“Are you ready, Akaashi?” Konoha asked. “You should know, if we lose, we are going to blame it on you since we haven’t lost a game yet.”

“That seems entirely unfair since we’re a team of six,” Akaashi said.

“‘Kaashi!!! You sound like Iwa-chaaaaan~” Oikawa cooed from the otherside of the table. Then he mumbled to himself. “I miss Iwa-chan.” 

Suga spun Oikawa so they were facing each other, his hands gripping firmly on Oikawa’s shoulders. “Babe, keep it together. If we win this, I will let you video chat with Iwaizumi when we get home.” Oikawa perked up and put on his game face. 

“And what do I get if  _ my _ side wins,” Akaashi said to his roommates.

“The satisfaction of having won something finally,” Suga smirked, referring to the fact Akaashi’s high school volleyball team had never made it far in qualifiers.

Akaashi glared at Suga, lips pursed. 

“If we win, I’ll take you on a date,” Konoha said, breaking the tension.

“That sounds more like a prize for you than for Akaashi,” Suga commented. The Fukurodani alumni all nodded in agreement. 

“It would definitely be more of a punishment for Akaashi, which might be a better motivation for Akaashi to do his best,” Kaori said. 

“So it would be better to say that if we lose, Akaashi has to go on a date with Konoha,” Komi said and looked to Akaashi, who just shrugged. 

“Whatever, but if anyone purposely throws the match, the deal is off.” Everyone agreed that was fair.

The two teams were ready to go on either side of the table. The Tokyo team lined up as Kaori, Washio, Konoha, Akaashi, Komi, and Yukie. The Miyagi team as Daichi, Suga, Oikawa, Asahi, Ennoshita, and Hanamaki. Suga counted them down.

The game started pretty evenly matched. Daichi and Kaori both finished their beer at the same time, but Kaori scored an early lead, flipping her cup in one try while Daichi took two. Suga was able to make up the time, gulping down the beer and flipping his cup to finish at the same time as Washio. Then it was Konoha and Oikawa.

Oikawa was by far the drunkest of them all, practically leaning on Suga as he attempted to flip his cup. Yet, Konoha, who was usually quite good at the game, was floundering. The entire team watched him eagerly, which wouldn’t have been that bad except those eyes now included Akaashi’s. Konoha fumbled several times, swearing to himself.

“Will you stop throwing the game on purpose!” Komi yelled at Konoha when Oikawa finally flipped his cup.

“I’m not doing this on purpose!” Konoha yelled back, frustrated that he kept failing. 

It took a few more tries before the cup finally flipped and Akaashi got to go. With speed that had rivaled Kaori and Suga, Akaashi gulped down the beer, placed the cup down, and, with a flick on his long finger, flipped the cup on the first try. The Fukurodani alumni—minus Komi who had been next—erupted into shouts. 

On the other side of the table, Ennoshita stood still, eyes fixed on Akaashi. His teammates yelled his name a few times before he finally remembered what they were doing and picked up his cup to drink the beer. In the end, the Tokyo team won, continuing the winning streak of Fukurodani.

“So who is it then—Ennoshita, Kita, or Konoha?” Oikawa grabbed the sweater, holding it up to inspect the size. “Are we even sure it’s one of them? The sweater is kind of large”—he presses it to his nose—“it also smells like a mix of a light floral and citrus.”

“Floral and citrus..." Suga was thinking mumbling to himself, staring at his hand holding three fingers out, each a candidate. 

The scent had seemed familiar earlier, but Suga had difficulty placing it, yet something in Oikawa’s descriptions felt recognizable—like the owner of the shirt was on the tip of his tongue. 

“I feel like I know that scent well, so it probably isn’t Kita,” Suga said, bringing down a finger so that only two remain. He repeated to himself, “Floral and citrus.”

Suga tapped his two fingers on the table. He was nearing the answer-

Akaashi’s door opened, and he walked out, wrapped in a blanket and dead to the world. Without pause, Oikawa and Suga bound past Akaashi and peek into this room.

It was empty. No sign of another person, just an unmade bed in Akaashi’s relatively clean room.

“What are you two doing?” Akaashi asked.

“You didn’t bring anyone home last night?” Oikawa pointed to Akaashi’s empty room, his voice not hiding the shock.

“No... Why would you think that?”

“Because we found this sweater on the ground,” Suga said, throwing the sweater at Akaashi.

_ 1:41 AM  _

Akaashi plopped down onto the couch, out of breath and needing to rest. His roommates were still dancing—their energy seemingly boundless. Guests had started filing out, and Akaashi was pretty sure they were going to be asked to leave soon. The party was coming to an end even if Oikawa and Suga refused to believe it.

As he sat legs crossed on the couch, idly looking forward. He had started to wish he had brought a sweater or something, the apartment feeling cooler as the crowd thinned and his drunken state settled. 

“Do you know whose sweater this is?” Kita asked Akaashi, lifting a blue knit sweater from the arm of the couch.

“Oh, that’s mine.”

The words came out of Akaashi’s mouth before he really knew what he was saying. It wasn’t his sweater and he had no idea whose sweater it was, but Akaashi assumed that whoever was the owner, they would assume they had lost it and get over it.

Kita handed Akaashi the sweater and he put it on. It was a little big on him, but he didn’t mind. He settled back into the couch, pulling the sleeves up until his thumbs were fully covered. Then he decided to just watch as Kita walked around the room and tidied up the space.

Akaashi wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting there before Oikawa and Suga came up to him and informed him that it was time to go since Suna had firmly told them to “please leave.”

“And, while we were walking home, Oikawa was complaining about being cold, so I took the sweater off and gave it to him, but when we got home he claimed to be too warm and then stripped the sweater off and threw it on the ground. I went to bed after that.” Akaashi finished his story.

“So you didn’t get lucky last night?” Suga asked

“If by ‘get lucky’ you mean have sex, then no, I did not.”

“Wow, this sweater is boring and useless,” Oikawa said.

“Well, maybe it’s not that unlucky. I mean, if you think about it, it might actually be lucky. Can you imagine how weird things would be if the first time we took Akaashi to a party and he slept with one of our high school friends.”

“So you think that is sweater is lucky because I didn’t have sex with your high school friends?” Akaashi asked.

Suga smiled at him, taking the sweater back. “Exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted a twitter thread about how Akaashi starts seeing Kita around campus after this party, [you can read it on my Twitter](https://twitter.com/mimimortis/status/1325249575217582081?s=20)
> 
> There will probably be a much longer time between now and the next chapter. I have a lot of work on my plate and it is what I need to focus on, but follow me on Twitter for mini aka/suga/oi threads and shenans


	3. Polaroids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio find a polaroid camera, Oikawa accidentally buys a lot of film, and then they have a party. That's it.
> 
> Subplot of KuroAka, pining AkaKita, and some crumbs of AsaSuga
> 
> Chapter specific tags: Partying, Alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I have been missing the setters, so I procrastinated and wrote a bit (this is actually the longest chapter thus far). 
> 
> It has been very clear to me that I am writing these basically like sitcom episodes, which also means there is no real plot here... just shenanigans. And with sitcom flow in mind, the last scene is more like a post-credit scene than actually a part of the fic :)

Akaashi opened the door to Suga’s bedroom. Only a sliver of floor could be seen through clothing, books, papers, and various junk strewn across the room. The mess was without a doubt the worst that Akaashi had ever seen in his life, and he visibly tensed at the sight.

“I told you,” Oikawa said. “Suga’s room looks like a natural disaster hit.”

“Do you... how do you even find things in this?” Akaashi asked through clenched teeth.

“It’s not that bad, and I have a system.” Suga said, walking carefully along the spots free of items like stepping stones. “Clean clothes are there”—Suga pointed to a pile near the closet—“dirty clothes are... everywhere else, and my homework will be somewhere around the bed or desk.”

Akaashi had no words. He could not understand how someone would live in such a mess. 

“Is that an old bowl of ramen?” Akaashi asked, pointing to the mysterious food next to Suga’s bed. Suga gave Akaashi a crooked smile, placing his hand behind head. “You need to clean this.” 

“Okay, my room may be an outright mess, but have you seen Oikawa’s closet?”

Oikawa scoffed at Suga, but before he could protest the accusation, Akaashi was walking down the hall. With intensity in his eyes, he entered Oikawa’s room and crossed the floor to the closet. Opened, it revealed boxes of junk stored on the ground and shelves above.

“Do you even know what’s in these boxes?” Akaashi asked as his roommates approached.

“I know... what’s in most of them... I think.” Oikawa answered.

Akaashi sighed. Considering how well the two of them seemed to be about organization and tidiness in shared spaces, he couldn’t believe the mess that had been lurking in their rooms. It made his skin crawl thinking how it had always been there, just across the hall from where he slept. 

Suga raised up on his tip-toes to reach a box in the closet on the shelf above. 

“Need any help, Suga-chan? I know that must be pretty high up for you,” Oikawa teased.

Suga answered with a middle finger. Then, he pulled the box down from the shelf and peered inside. Rummaging through, he listed out a few of the items: old tennis shoes with worn out soles, several tangled earphones, various pens, and an unused candle.

“You don’t need any of this stuff,” Akaashi said.

Oikawa crossed his arms. “That candle could be useful!”

“Did you even know you had it?” Akaashi’s question was answered with a pout and silence. “If you didn’t even know you had it, then you don’t need it.”

“We do need this though,” Suga chimed in, pulling an item from a new box.

He had dropped the previous one to the ground and pulled a second down from the shelf. In his hands was a turquoise polaroid camera.

“Oh! I forgot I had that!” Oikawa took the camera from Suga’s hands and pulled out the shutter to turn it on. 

A small light at the settings signalled the batteries still had juice left. He looked through the lens, pointing the camera at Suga for a brief moment. Then he pulled it away from his face and held it back out. 

“Suga-chan! Take my picture.”

Before Suga could grab the camera, Akaashi took it and said, “No photos until you two clean your rooms.”

Suga looked at Oikawa and then back to Akaashi, a smirk growing on his face. “Make you a deal... You take a picture of us, and then we clean.”

“How about you two clean your room regardless of getting a picture, which”—Akaashi looked down at the camera—“I couldn’t even take it if I wanted to. There is no film in this camera.” 

  
  


Akaashi sighed as he placed the key into the lock. He opened the door and sloshed into the entryway, dragging his feet along the ground. Absently, he toed off his shoes, aligning them against the wall, and readjusted his backpack. 

He took a step into the apartment.

“Fuck!” 

Akaashi’s foot caught a box placed on the ground and he fell forward with a thud, the contents of his backpack spilling into the entry hall. 

Suga and Oikawa’s voices rang from the living room. “Jar!” 

“Which one of you left a fucking box in the middle of the fucking entryway!” Akaashi grumbled.

Akaashi picked up his belongings and placed them back into his backpack, listening to Oikawa and Suga blame each other in hush tones. After he rubbed his shin in order to dull the sting, Akaashi stood up, throwing his bag back over his shoulder. 

He walked over to the box and read the name.

_ Oikawa Tooru _ .

With a sigh, Akaashi picked up the box and brought it into the living room. Oikawa and Suga were entangled; the argument over who left the box in the hallway turned into a half-hearted wrestling match. 

Suga had Oikawa in a headlock and was purposefully messing with his hair. When Akaashi dropped the box onto the ground, the two of them paused, and Suga released Oikawa from his grip. There is a moment of silence as Akaashi stood with his arms crossed, waiting for an explanation.

“Aka-chan~” Oikawa sing-songed. “Don’t forget you have to put money in your jar for swear-”

Akaashi glared at Oikawa, and Suga put his hand over Oikawa’s mouth. 

“You know what, we can just forget it. After all, it’s our fault for leaving the box in the entryway like that.”

Akaashi crossed the room and took a seat next to Oikawa on the couch. 

“Do you want to tell me what is in the box?” he asked.

“Oh, right!” Oikawa perked up and sprung from the couch, throwing Akaashi into the armrest by accident. The setter shot an apology back as he jogged across the room to the kitchen.

As Oikawa searched for their boxcutter in the designated junk drawer, Akaashi made himself comfortable next to Suga, pulling his legs up to his chest. When Oikawa returned, he started opening the box.

“So, I was up late working on a paper, and I looked over and saw the polaroid camera on my desk”—Oikawa cut at the tape—“and I thought about how it was a shame we didn’t have any film... So I bought-”

Oikawa paused, his face pulling to an expression of pure horror as he opened the box to reveal its contents.

“I think I made a mistake,” Oikawa whispered. “I thought I ordered 100 polaroids, but..." He threw a pack of film at Suga.

“Oikawa, this has 10 polaroids in it, you ordered 100 packs of 10... That’s 1000 polaroids.”

“I thought 70,000 yen was a lot of money for 100 polaroids,” Oikawa said.

“You spent 70,000 yen on film!” Akaashi yelled in disbelief. 

Oikawa looked to the floor and placed a hand behind his head. “Well, actually, since it was a lot of money, I used the credit card your parents pay for to order it”

“You did what?!” Akaashi leapt from the couch with intent to tackle Oikawa, but Suga snatched the bottom of Akaashi’s shirt.

“Akaash-”

“SUGA, LET ME GO!” Akaashi twisted trying to get free from Suga’s grip. 

Oikawa took a cautious step back, a hand out as if Akaashi was a wild animal he was calming down. “Listen, I know you’re-” 

“I think you should just not talk,” Suga interrupted. With a quick tug, Suga pulled Akaashi back to the couch. He shot out his arm to keep Akaashi from attacking a second time.

“Now, before you commit murder, I think I have an idea.” Suga waited for his roommates to give him their full attention, and when he had it, he continued.

  
  


Asahi was draping fabric over a dress form, working on an assignment for class. Removing the pin that he had been carefully holding between his lips, he secured the material in place.

Suga sat in a stool at Asahi’s workstation. He was idly removing pins from Asahi’s pincushion to stab them back in a moment later. His lips were pulled into a sweet, angelic smile—a look that Asahi knew was even more dangerous than his smirk. 

“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” Asahi questioned, looking back at Suga.

“I want you to be the photographer for the party we’re throwing this weekend.”

“You do realize I am a designer, not a photographer... Right?” 

Asahi scrunched up some fabric and held it tight with one hand; the other he held out toward Suga, and Suga carefully placed a pin in his palm.

“Being a designer means you have an eye for aesthetics... And you can’t deny that because I have seen your Instagram! You  _ know _ how to take a good picture,” Suga argued.

Asahi sighed. “I’m not a photographer,” he repeated.

When he turned back to grab the next piece of cloth, he was met with Suga giving him puppy dog eyes—his bottom lip was extended in a pout. 

“No.”

Suga widened his eyes, causing them to water around the edges. His bottom lip quivered slightly.

As much as Asahi tried to stand his ground, both of them knew he would eventually give in. There was no use resisting the request.

“Fine,” Asahi said in defeat. Then referring to the pout, he continued, “You’re getting better at that.”

Suga had always been able to get his way with careful words, but since high school, he had gotten better at getting his way with a mere look. 

“Thanks, I’ve been learning from Oikawa.”

“I feel you do it a lot better than Oikawa since people don’t assume you’re an asshole when they first meet you,” Asahi joked as he started working on his piece again. 

“Rude, that’s my roommate you are talking about... Only I get to say those things about him.” 

The two of them broke into laughter. 

  
  


When Akaashi reached the front of the line at his favorite café, he was greeted by Osamu. “Akaashi! You don’t usually come by in the afternoons.” 

“Normally, no, but I’m meeting up with Kita today... He’s running a little late” 

Akaashi glanced at the menu as if he had yet to decide what to order. It was a fruitless action as he always ordered the same thing—and so did Kita.

“Two coffees, one regular and one decaf, right?” Osamu was already writing the orders onto cups. 

“Yes, thank you Myaa-sam.”

Akaashi paid for the coffees. To be respectful of the line behind him, he gave a short goodbye and moved over to wait for his order. He tapped on his phone, reading Kita’s message over and over. Periodically, he looked toward the window, watching people walk by.

It had been fifteen minutes since Kita’s message, and Akaashi figured he must be close by now...

“I didn’t realize this café was located in heaven,” a stranger said next to Akaashi.

Akaashi looked up to see a man taller than himself with crazy rooster-like hair. 

“What?” 

“Well you see,” the man said, turning his body toward Akaashi before continuing. “There is no way a human can be as beautiful as you, ergo you must be an angel.”

Akaashi sighed and pocketed his phone. “Does that pick-up line usually work on people?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had the opportunity to use it before... No one was ever gorgeous enough to warrant it.” The man tilted his head slightly, and his lips pulled into a warm smile for Akaashi.

Being hit on by strangers in public was not an uncommon event for Akaashi, and in the past it would often make him uncomfortable. This man was different. He was confident, but not in a cocky way. He found himself wanting to be annoyed, but the man’s smile revealed a mixture of playfulness and calm that intrigued. If the man were a character from a novel, Akaashi might assign him the role of a charming thief. 

“Are you doing anything right now?” he asked.

“I’m meeting up with someone.”

“A significant other?”

“No...” Akaashi’s voice trailed off.

“Well then, might you be free later? Say tonight at ten. My friends are having a party.” 

Akaashi turned toward the stranger, a playful half smile on his face. “I happen to be busy this evening as well... What a shame.”

Their gaze met. At first the man’s face fell into a solemn expression, discouraged by what he assumed to be Akaashi’s lack of interest. Then he watched as Akaashi lips parted and his eyes traced along the edges of his features, and a smile returned.

“Well how about I get your number?” 

A small bell rang through the café, and Akaashi’s attention was pulled to the door. Kita shook off the mist of rain that layered his hair and clothes. Akaashi caught the upturn of his lips, stopping the smile that dared warm his face. 

“Kita-san!” Akaashi called out with a wave.

When Kita saw Akaashi, he sent a friendly grin. Akaashi’s stomach rolled over, and a lump took hold in his throat. He repeated a mantra.  _ Just friends. Just friends. Just friends. _

“Order for Akaashi!” The barista called from behind the counter.

Akaashi returned to the moment before Kita arrived, the handsome stranger still standing next to him, waiting for an answer. 

“Tell you what,” Akaashi said as he grabbed the coffees. “If we meet again, I will give you my number.” He walked away to meet Kita at the entrance.

“I’ll pray to the gods to make it so,” the man called out, several patrons turning to look at them. 

Akaashi rolled his eyes, but a part of him buzzed with the hope of seeing the man again. 

Holding out one of the cups to Kita, Akaashi said, “Your coffee.”

“Thanks.” Kita ran his fingers through his wet hair once more before accepting the warm drink. 

Akaashi watched as Kita wrapped both his hands around it and brought it up to his lips. But he didn’t take a sip. Instead, he held it close, transferring the heat from the coffee to his own body, combating the chill from the damp air outside.

“Did you forget an umbrella again?”

“I didn’t forget one. I gave it to a mother on my way here,” Kita explained.

Akaashi thought of a mother with her small child tucked into her jacket to shield them from the rain. He imagined Kita, on his way to the café, noticing the woman and immediately offering his own umbrella. She would try to politely refuse, but Kita would insist, claiming his destination wasn’t far...

“Who was that guy?” Kita asked, breaking Akaashi from the imagined scene.

Akaashi shrugged. “Just some guy who started talking to me.”

“Be careful, Akaashi. You’ll end up with another stalker playing hard to get like that.”

Kita chuckled, and Akaashi began to reach up with intent to give the other a friendly shove for the comment. Hesitance won out, however, and Akaashi shoved his hand into his jacket.

“I told you that in confidence.” His tone was almost harsh. Bringing the cup of coffee to his lips, he whispered, “And I’m not the one playing hard to get.”

“What was that?”

“I just asked what are we doing?” 

“Osamu told me of this nice ramen place nearby. I figured we could check it out.”

They exited the café, and Akaashi opened his umbrella. He made sure to stand to one side, leaving space for Kita to shelter under as well.

  
  


Before Akaashi had time to take off his shoes, his roommates ran into the entryway hall. They greeted him with huge smiles on their faces, causing Akaashi to pause.

“What did you two do now?” Akaashi’s brows furrowed as he stared down the two of them.

“Aka-chan~” Oikawa cooed. “Why do you always think we did something bad?”

“Because you often  _ do _ something bad…”

“Well this time we just have a surprise for you,” Suga said. “Close your eyes.”

Akaashi sighed and covered his eyes with his hands. Suga and Oikawa’s snickering voices closed in around him. They latched onto his arms and guided him to the living room. 

“Keep them closed until we say to open them,” Suga ordered.

Akaashi heard the light pitter-patter of steps running around the room. There was a soft series of clinks in front of Akaashi, like something being unraveled. His roommates argued quietly and in half phrases. Eventually, Akaashi recognized the sound of something being plugged into the wall.

“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Suga said.

Akaashi removed his hands, blinking to readjust to the light. Oikawa and Suga stood in front of the couch, fairy lights strung along the ceiling above, basking their features in a warm glow.

“Don’t you want to know where we got them?” Oikawa asked.

At first, Akaashi thought they might have snatched them from a nearby dumpster since it would be unlikely they would have purchased something—given a ¥70,000 debt was why they were having this get together in the first place. Then he noticed the familiar box poorly hidden behind the couch.

“I’d have to guess from Oikawa’s closet,” Akaashi said, pointing to the box.

From the smug expressions on their faces, Akaashi knew they thought themselves smart. They were waiting for Akaashi to admit he was wrong about the junk in the closet. However, he wouldn’t give them that satisfaction. 

“It’s nice,” Akaashi said, eyes trailing along the string of lights. 

“Isn’t it?” Suga looked at his handiwork with a prideful grin. Then he nudged Oikawa with his elbow and said, “You know, I think our party is going to be pretty  _ lit _ .”

“JAR!” Oikawa and Akaashi shouted at the same time. 

The room devolved into laughter as Suga unceremoniously searched his pockets for a few hundred-yen coins and dropped them into the jar labeled  _ pun _ . 

The three of them continued to set up for the festivities—scouring their kitchen for all and any alcohol, pulling out what little snacks they could find, and removing excess furniture from their living room to have a space to dance. 

After an hour, they collapsed onto the couch, having a moment of respite before there came a knock on the door. 

“Come in!” Suga called. “The door is open!”

Oikawa punched Suga in the arm. “Suga-chan! You can’t just tell a stranger to come in. What if they’re a murderer?”

“A murderer probably would have tried the door first without knocking,” Akaashi commented.

“But what if the murderer wanted you to lower your guard, so they pretended to be a polite stranger who knocks?” Oikawa retorted.

Before they could get into further argument over whether or not they had just invited a serial killer into the apartment, Asahi walked in. 

Asahi looked at the three sprawled on the couch. His mouth opened briefly, a thought on the tip of his tongue. But, he closed his mouth, clearly deciding to keep his thought to himself.

“Well out with it, Asahi,” Suga teased.

Then Asahi gestured at them and asked, “Is that really what you three are going to wear tonight?” 

  
  


The living room was packed with people: friends from high school, acquaintances from classes, and a few strangers who had gotten word from others. Most people were huddled into small groups, hovering around the edges of the room while a few people danced in the middle.

Asahi wove in and out of the groups, snapping candid shots, capturing memories into the still images.

“Wow, everyone is here,” Oikawa said.

The three of them were in the kitchen looking out at the party-goers. Suga was preparing them drinks, mixing a little bit of everything available. 

“Almost everyone,” Akaashi whispered. 

“Who’s missing?” Oikawa asked and then received an elbow to the side from Suga. Oikawa was about to complain, but a stern look from Suga shut him up.

Suga topped off the cups with a splash of juice and presented his concoction to his roommates. 

“Drink up!”

Oikawa took a swig, coughing afterwards at the burn left in his throat. Akaashi brought it to his nose first, hesitance written on his face.

“This smells like fucking death in a cup,” he said. The curse received him a quick reply of “jar” from his roommates.

“You’ll be fine,” Suga reassured him as he took a sip from his own cup. He was completely unphased by the mixture of alcohol, drinking it as if it was nothing but juice. 

Akaashi was saved from having to drink it when there came a knock from the front door. He placed his cup down and slipped out of the kitchen, letting Suga and Oikawa fall into conversation without him.

When Akaashi opened the door, he was greeted by two men he recognized. The first was the energetic spiker with hair like a horned owl who played on the volleyball team with Oikawa. The second was the same rooster-haired guy from the café.

“Hey, it’s the angel!” Akaashi watched as the café-stranger’s face sank in horror of realizing he had said that out loud.

“It’s Akaashi.”

Akaashi stepped to the side to let the pair into the entryway. They took off their shoes and added them to the growing pile.

“Hey hey hey ‘kaashi! I’m Bokuto and seems like you kind of met Kuroo earlier.”

At Bokuto’s enthusiasm, Akaashi took another step back into the apartment. 

Bokuto seemed eager to get into the party, listening to the laughter of those already arrived. 

“What are you doing here?” Kuroo asked, still a bit shocked about seeing Akaashi answer the door.

“I live here.”

“You live with Suga and Oikawa?” 

Akaashi tilted his head, a flirtatious half smile on his face though his voice was almost condescending. “That is what ‘I live here’ would imply, yes.”

Bokuto caught a laugh in the back of his hand. The gesture made Kuroo glare his way as if the other had insulted his mother. It only made Bokuto laugh harder.

“It’s 500 yen to come into the party,” Akaashi said, holding out his hand.

“We brought alcohol though”—Kuroo held up the beer he had brought—“so... why should we have to pay to get in.”

“Because you get to take home polaroids as souvenirs.”

“Can I choose to take you home instead?” Kuroo flirted as he reached in his pocket to pull out his wallet.

Akaashi couldn’t tell if Kuroo was trying to be cute or if he had just said the first thing to come to his mind without thinking. In any case, he decided to tease him. 

“Again, you do realize I already live here.” 

Bokuto held back another laugh and placed a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder. “Damn bro, you keep striking out... Also, can I borrow 500 yen.”

Akaashi stepped to the side when Kuroo handed him the money. Kuroo opened his mouth to say something, but his attention was pulled away as Bokuto dragged him into the apartment. Then there was another knock on the door that Akaashi attended to.

  
  


After a few more drinks, Akaashi was properly intoxicated and enjoying the company of his roommates. Though the hosts of the party, the trio was more invested in having fun. Thus, they found themselves creating their own little world on the dance floor. 

Suga and Oikawa attempted a drunken tango. However, considering neither of them knew how to tango, it was more a dramatization of what they had seen in movies. Every so often, they would pull Akaashi in and spin him around. 

There was only one thing that could get them to leave the dance floor.

“The next batch of pictures,” Asahi informed Suga, handing him a small stack of polaroids during a break between songs.

Suga immediately dragged his roommates into the kitchen. They stood in front of the island to go through the images one by one. Suga glanced at each, placing the ones none of them were in into a pile for the guests to peruse. 

“Hey! We’re keeping this one!” Oikawa said, snatching the most recent discarded photo from on top of the pile.

“Why? None of us are in that one.” 

“What are you talking about? I’m right there!” Oikawa pointed to the edge of the photo. Akaashi and Suga leaned in to inspect the image.

“That’s an elbow,” Akaashi said. 

“It’s  _ my _ elbow. Can’t you tell? I have a gorgeous elbow, it’s very distinct.”

“You are really going to keep a photo because of your elbow?” Suga asked in disbelief.

“Like I said, Suga-chan, I have a  _ beautiful  _ elbow.”

As Oikawa and Suga continued to argue over the image, Akaashi finished looking through the rest of the polaroids and hid the ones they wanted to keep in a drawer. Then he grabbed another drink and returned to the party. 

  
  


Akaashi ended up sitting on the couch watching the guests. He observed a couple exchanging playful touches in the corner; a small group of people, most of whom Akaashi recognized from the first gathering he had attended, posing for a picture; and a few people dancing fairly well in the center of the room. He continued to scan until he saw Kuroo. 

Kuroo was standing in a small group, resting his arm on Bokuto’s shoulder. Laughing, Kuroo glanced back, taking notice of Akaashi staring his way. He shot Akaashi a wide grin before whispering something in Bokuto’s ear.

He left the group and crossed the room. Akaashi couldn’t help but eye him as he walked toward the couch. Though he was definitely attractive—tall with sharp features—Akaashi couldn’t help but think Kuroo was probably quite the nerd. After all, if anyone had  _ I memorized the periodic table for fun _ vibes, it was Kuroo.

Kuroo sat down next to Akaashi. “So now that I’m here, what are your two other wishes for the genie?” he asked playfully.

Akaashi took a slow sip of his drink, pretending to be more interested in people watching than Kuroo. “I believe this would be your wish, not mine,” he said.

Kuroo placed an arm around the back of the couch and leaned in toward Akaashi. 

“Well in that case,” he whispered. “Can I spend my second wish on a kiss?”

Akaashi faced Kuroo. His gaze fell to Kuroo’s lips briefly, and he leaned in with parted lips. He watched Kuroo’s Adam’s apple bob as he got closer. Kuroo’s face pulled into a surprised expression.

Then Akaashi paused. He pulled his mouth into a half smile—his head tilting and his eyebrows raising ever so slightly. “Would you really be happy knowing a kiss only happened because of a wish and not because the other person wanted it?” he asked.

For about a half second, Kuroo looked disappointed, and then he registered Akaashi’s body language. Kuroo was unable to keep a wry smile off his face as he whispered, “Alright, then I will make you want to kiss me.”

“You can sure try,” Akaashi said, turning his attention back to the party. 

“You know... When we met, you said I could have your number if we saw each other again.”

“That is what I said.”

“So... your number?”

Akaashi forgot about Kuroo as he made eye contact with Oikawa from across the room. He could tell that he was needed for something. 

“Ask me again in an hour,” Akaashi replied with a coy smile as he stood from the couch and walked toward his roommate. 

As soon as Akaashi was close enough to hear, Oikawa said, “Suga’s called an emergency meeting.” Then he was dragged down the hall.

  
  


Suga was sitting on Akaashi’s bed, waiting for his roommates to come in. He needed to talk to them about something important, urgent. It had been on his mind for a few days, and now that he was drunk, it felt like he should throw caution to the wind. Of course, he needed to make sure that his best friends didn’t think it a bad idea first.

Oikawa pulled Akaashi into the room and they joined Suga on the bed. As Suga was the one to call the meeting, they waited patiently for him to tell them what was going on.

“I think I’m going to make out Asahi,” Suga said.

Oikawa and Akaashi looked at each other briefly. “Are you asking our permission or telling us?” Akaashi asked.

“I... I think I just want to make sure it’s not a terrible idea,” Suga stammered.

Akaashi moved on the bed to sit next to Suga, wrapping his arms around the other’s waist. With his head heavy from the alcohol-haze, he decided to rest it on Suga’s shoulder.

“So why do you want to kiss him?” Akaashi asked.

“I don't know,” Suga said, burying his face in his hands. “He dresses nice, is tall, has great hair...”

Oikawa scoffed at Suga’s description. “I have all of those things!”

Akaashi threw a pillow at the setter. “You don’t dress nearly as nice as Asahi,” he quipped.

“Alright, I have two of those things,” Oikawa admitted, throwing the pillow back at Akaashi, who caught it before it hit his face. Oikawa continued, “Isn’t it risky to get involved with someone you have been friends with for so long?” 

“Maybe... But I think we would be fine.” Suga sighed, resting his cheek atop Akaashi’s hair. 

Oikawa moved closer to the other two and pointed at Suga. “But if you make out with Asahi, who is going to make out with me?” He pointed toward himself.

There was a beat of silence. Oikawa and Suga both looked toward Akaashi.

Akaashi sat up, pulling away from Suga. “Under normal circumstances, I would say sure, but I am kind of pursuing someone right now.”

“Akaashi, you do realize that Ki-”

“Oh my gods, you are trying to make out with Kuroo!” Oikawa blurted out, interrupting Suga. 

“Did we ever make a rule about Akaashi dating our friends?” Suga asked Oikawa, pretending Akaashi was no longer in the room. “What if he breaks their hearts?”

“This is true. He does have heartbreaker vibes,” Oikawa said, gesturing his hands at Akaashi.

Akaashi picked up the pillow again and slammed it into Suga’s face. “You literally just talked about making out with your own friend of almost five years. Can you say ‘double standards’?”

The three of them broke out into laughter. They fell backwards, tears in the corners of their eyes. After a minute, Suga got up on his side and turned toward Akaashi. 

“Welp, can’t argue with that, so I guess you have our blessing,” he said and poked Akaashi lightly on the cheek.

  
  


Akaashi was going through another round of polaroids in the kitchen when Kuroo came up to him again. He didn’t need to look up to know the presence beside him.

“So are you going to make me beg?” Kuroo asked, setting his drink down on the metal surface.

“I’ve thought about it.”

When Akaashi finished going through the images in his hand, he tapped the set to keep on the table, creating a neat stack.

“Would you really go back on your word like that? That would make you a dishonest and untrustworthy man.”

Akaashi turned to face Kuroo, a small smirk on his lips. “And yet, we both know you would still keep trying even knowing how truly villainous I am.”

“Without a shadow of doubt.” Kuroo leaned in. His stare darted down to Akaashi’s lips. 

The two were caught in a moment, but neither were making the next move. Kuroo was waiting for Akaashi to close the distance, giving Kuroo permission to proceed. Akaashi, on the other hand, was fighting the gravity of Kuroo’s lips. His resolve faded a bit as he tilted his head up.

Akaashi wanted to kiss him. However, he wasn’t ready to end the game they were playing. He liked the dance the two had created. Kuroo stared at him through half-lidded eyes, waiting for a kiss that would not come tonight.

However, Kuroo would receive something else he had asked for. Pulling away, Akaashi scanned the polaroids in his hand for one of just him. Then he grabbed the sharpie from the table, wrote down his number, and slid it over to Kuroo. Akaashi walked away without another word.

He didn’t have to look back to know Kuroo was watching him. It was Akaashi’s presence commanding the room now.

  
  


The evening was dying down. Only a handful of people remained, including Kuroo, who was chatting in a small group, and Asahi, who was currently indisposed on the couch.

“Aka-chaaaan~” Oikawa sang into Akaashi’s ear. He was practically falling asleep on Akaashi, and his words slurred together. “Will you kiss me now?”

“What’s in it for me?”

Akaashi made eye contact with Kuroo from across the room, and the other raised his glass. He kept his gaze focused on Akaashi until Bokuto pulled him back into the conversation.

“Well you get to kiss me, and I am a very good kisser. Just ask Suga.”

Oikawa pointed to the couch where Suga was entangled with Asahi. His hand was a little off, and Akaashi gently moved it to more accurately point to their roommate. 

“He seems a little too busy to answer questions right now.”

“ _ Please—— _ You’ll make rooster-boy a little jealous,” Oikawa whispered into Akaashi’s ear.

Oikawa had no idea of the game Akaashi was playing with Kuroo, but he was right about one thing. If Kuroo were to see Oikawa so casually on Akaashi’s lips at the end of the night, it would surely arouse something in him—be that jealousy, anger, or motivation. 

“Okay.”

Akaashi pulled Oikawa to be in front of him, and he leaned himself against the wall behind him. Oikawa placed a hand out to steady himself.

“I promise I’m a really good kisser.”

Oikawa closed his eyes as he leaned in. Oikawa kissed Akaashi slowly at first, but then Akaashi parted his lips and the other was emboldened. As they made out, Akaashi glanced to the side. He watched as Kuroo took notice.

The man didn’t seem upset, rather intrigued. Akaashi’s eyes reeked of mischief, and given the way Kuroo smirked at Akaashi before whispering something in Bokuto’s ear, Akaashi felt he had gotten the message.

The night started to fade for Akaashi quickly after that. One moment he was kissing Oikawa, the next he was on the couch—Suga resting in his lap. Fade to and from black, and the three of them were alone, shoving a few things into trash bags. Then he was in his bed, uncomfortable, but too tired to move.

  
  


Akaashi was woken up the next morning by Oikawa and Suga shouting at each other. 

Eyes closed, he reached for his phone to check the time. The bright screen caused Akaashi to squint. He blinked once... twice... Eventually his vision focused and he read: 08:37

He had several unread messages. The more recent of which came from an unknown number he suspected to be Kuroo. As he could barely look at his phone without feeling like his head was about to explode, he decided to reply to them later.

Akaashi locked his phone and rolled over. He had the worst hangover of his life. All he wanted to do was to rest—to sleep it off—but the longer he laid awake, the louder it seemed his roommates were arguing. 

  
  


“You aren’t the only one in this picture, so why should you get to keep it?” Oikawa whined. 

The polaroids they had kept were scattered on the study table as Oikawa and Suga sat on the ground and tried to decide who got to keep what.

“I’m older, therefore I have age privileges.”

Suga snatched the polaroid from Oikawa’s hand. Oikawa launched over the study table to grab it back, dusting several other images to the floor. Suga placed one arm out to stop Oikawa and held the polaroid as far away from him as possible.

“GIVE IT BACK!”

“ _ No. Can. Do. _ ”

The polaroid was removed from Suga’s hand, and he turned to see Akaashi standing over them, wrapped in a blanket and looking like death itself. 

“Aka-chan, you look absolutely terrible,” Oikawa mumbled, his face being smooshed by Suga’s hand.

“I feel terrible, and I would appreciate it if you two would stop arguing... Or at least do it quietly.”

“But you don’t understand, Akaashi, I look really good in that picture and I need it,” Oikawa whined.

“I also look amazing, so I have just as much claim as you do!” Suga shouted.

Suga and Oikawa began to argue once more; this time, they brought Akaashi into the decision process. Akaashi seemed to ignore them as he left the room, taking the polaroid with him. He came back a few moments later with a notebook and a pen.

“Are you planning on doing homework?” Oikawa gave Akaashi a confused look.

Akaashi was laying out the polaroids—having picked up the ones Oikawa had knocked off the table. He sorted them into four piles: a pile for polaroids that two or more of them were in and then individual piles for pictures of each of them. 

“Okay, of the images in this pile”—Akaashi pointed to the pile of contested photos—“which are the ones you both want to keep.”

Suga and Oikawa went through and each pointed out the ones they wanted. Akaashi pulled the subset where they overlapped.

Then he opened up to a blank page of his notebook and started to write.

“Akaashi... What are you doing?” Suga asked.

“I am writing out a custody agreement. Then you will sign it. And then you will be quiet the rest of the day and let me sleep off this hangover that is entirely Suga’s fault.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, leave comments, kudos, etc if you enjoy :) 
> 
> Also, as I have so many of these to write, there is a high chance half of the chapters (including this one) will not be beta'ed from here on out. Of course, I will still edit them a couple times, but I apologize for any awkward phrasing or grammatical errors. But truly, at the end of the day, we are here to have a good time reading petty setter shenanigans, are we not?


	4. Prank War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga makes Akaashi angry, and Akaashi accidentally starts a prank war between the two of them. Oikawa is caught in the middle, but he doesn't actually try to stop them.
> 
> There is a brief AsaSuga make out scene. Also, someone should probably tell OiSuga that they are in love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty!!! We have another chapter !! This is the origin of the annual prank war :) 
> 
> Also, they are crafting at the beginning of the chapter because they finished their finals, so it was supposed to be fun.

Oikawa looked down at the mess of glitter and glue he had made on their study table _and_ himself. His arms were covered in a protective layer of blue and gold that sparkled in the afternoon light. It was a disaster, but at least his craft had turned out nicely…

Removing the protective tape—that had been Suga’s idea to preserve the calligraphy—Oikawa displayed the adorned jars in the center of the table.

“Those look... really good,” Suga said as he picked one up to look at the decorative stripes.

“Why do you say that like you're surprised?” Oikawa huffed and crossed his arms.

Suga chuckled, pointing at Oikawa’s chest.

“What?”

When Oikawa looked down, he realized that his previous action had caused glitter to now coat his clothes as well. He let out an exasperated sigh, burying his head in his hands with a groan. Suga laughed even harder as Oikawa looked up—glitter now plastered to his face.

“Just stop moving, babe,” Suga said before he left the room. Oikawa followed the order and kept still, arms held out at his side.

Suga returned with a washcloth and olive oil. He applied a few drops of oil onto the cloth and held out a hand toward Oikawa. Oikawa understood the motion and extended his arm, placing his hand in Suga’s.

He watched as Suga swept the cloth down his arm to remove the glitter from his skin. Though it didn’t all come off, he no longer looked like a Christmas ornament. When Suga finished with the first arm, he set it down and gestured for Oikawa to hand him the other. Then he continued the same motion.

“Done!” Akaashi grumped.

Oikawa and Suga turned to see a crumpled ball of colored paper that Akaashi must have thrown onto the table after giving up.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to look like that,” Suga teased.

After he finished cleaning Oikawa’s second arm, Suga folded the cloth and applied another drop of oil. He scooted closer to Oikawa to wipe the glitter from his face.

“Suga-chan! You’re gonna make my face all oily!”

“Do you want glitter stuck to your face?” Suga asked in his teacher-voice. Oikawa shook his head. “Then let me wipe it off. You can always wash your face later.”

Oikawa turned his head to let Suga wipe the glitter off, and he watched as Akaashi, still frustrated, picked up the paper ball and rolled it in his hands. Pinching the top, Akaashi held the ball up in the air and examined it from all sides.

“It could still be an ornament or something,” Akaashi said.

“But it isn’t the ornament you were _trying_ to make,” Suga replied.

Akaashi slammed the ball down again, this time smashing it underneath his palm. “Aren’t you the one who always says that it doesn’t matter if you follow the instructions? That things can look however we want?!”

Done with cleaning the glitter off Oikawa, Suga placed the cloth on the table. He turned to face Akaashi, his eyebrows cocked and a smirk on his face.

“I do say that. But, you don’t agree with me, so I know _you think_ that’s wrong.”

Fire burned behind Akaashi’s eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Without breaking eye contact with Suga, Akaashi began a string of curses that Oikawa had never even heard before—he even started to swear in other languages. All the while he emptied his wallet into the newly glittered jar. 

Oikawa looked from Akaashi to Suga, expecting to see Suga fuming. However, he was straight-faced and calm, and that was definitely scarier.

“You’ve done it now, Aka-chan..."

Suga plastered a sweet smile on his face, standing up from his spot on the floor. 

“Oh wow, is that the time already? I’ve got to go meet up with Asahi... You two can put all this stuff away, right?” 

“Of course,” Akaashi said, mimicking Suga’s sugar-coated tone.

Then Suga skipped out of the living room. Akaashi waited for the apartment door to shut behind Suga before he got up and walked to the kitchen. 

Oikawa started to worry about what Akaashi planned to do when he came back with a trash bag and started dumping all of the craft supplies into it without care.

“Aka-chan! You can’t throw out Suga’s stuff.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not throwing it out.” Akaashi’s tone did not reassure Oikawa. Whatever he was doing must be worse than throwing Suga’s art supplies out..

With the items packed up, Akaashi threw the garbage bag over his shoulder and walked down the hall. Oikawa followed closely behind him to Suga’s room. Akaashi opened the door and crossed the messy floor to stand in front of Suga’s bed. He opened the bag.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Oikawa warned.

“What’s another mess in this already messy room.” And with that, Akaashi turned it over, emptying the glitter, paper, glue, and other craft supplies onto Suga’s bed.

  
  


After a few days spent trying to determine how to get back at Akaashi, Suga finally had a plan. Because he was still waking up to find glitter stuck to places it shouldn’t be, Suga hadn’t wanted to rush. Not just any retaliation would do; it had to be something that would bother Akaashi for days.

The idea had come to Suga when Asahi had politely reprimanded him for disorganizing his workspace when he came to visit. Of course, Suga hadn’t meant to mess with Asahi’s space. He just got a little antsy watching him work, and it was either idly run his hands across the fabric or over Asahi—and, unfortunately, the latter was not an option when Asahi was working under a deadline.

However, seeing Asahi get flustered over the fabrics being in the wrong location gave Suga an idea...

“Is Akaashi home?” Suga asked, walking into the living room.

Oikawa was sitting on the couch, laptop on his lap, headphones in. He looked up, noticing Suga.

He removed a headphone from his ear. “Hmm?”

“Akaashi. Is he here?”

“No he isn’t,” Oikawa answered, putting the headphone back in and returning his attention to the computer.

“Good,” Suga said to himself.

He walked down the hallway to Akaashi’s room. Unsurprisingly, the room looked like a model picture from a magazine. Everything had a place and it was there with eerie perfection. Nothing was even a centimeter out of place. It almost felt like the room was completely unlived in and just staged for an apartment walkthrough.

This all made Suga’s plan even more devious. With haste, he got to work disorganizing everything and anything. He started with Akaashi’s desk. Suga removed things from drawers and scattered them around; turned various pens and pencils upside down; and un-alphabetized the books.

Next, Suga moved to the closet. All neatly folded clothes ended up in a pile on the floor. Clothes onced organized by style, season, and color were now mixed together in such a way that not even a computer could recognize a pattern. 

“Suga-chan what are you doing!” Oikawa was standing in the doorway, horror plastered across his face. 

“It’s just a little payback,” Suga said, shooting Oikawa a mischievous grin. 

Oikawa sighed. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“I think it’s the perfect idea.”

Suga pulled several items from the shelf in Akaashi’s closet and let them fall to the floor. In the newly created pile, he noticed a sweater that was much too big for Akaashi.

“Why does he have this?” Suga asked, holding up the sweater.

“I think he stole that from some guy he had a one night stand with... He said something about it being comfy so he wanted to keep it.” Oikawa punctuated the explanation with a shrug because who could really know why Akaashi did things.

“Akaashi steals a lot of sweaters,” Suga said, remembering the blue sweater that had been stolen from a party a couple months prior. He tossed the item back to the floor.

With the closet in full disarray, Suga walked to Akaashi’s bed. He untucked corners, pulled the pillows from the pillowcases, and discarded the comforter to the floor. 

“If Akaashi asks, I saw nothing. Got it?” 

“Yeah yeah.” Suga waved at Oikawa, who just shook his head in resignation before retreating back to the living room.

As one last final touch, Suga took the hamper where Akaashi kept his dirty clothes and turned it upside down. For good measure, he kicked a few things to spread them across the floor. By the end, Akaashi’s room could have easily been mistaken for Suga’s.

Later when Akaashi came home, he let out a scream that Suga had not yet heard from him before. After spending a good part of the hour chasing Suga around the apartment with full intent to harm, Akaashi called Kita to help him reorganize his room.

Even though Akaashi’s room was cleaned up before the next morning, Suga still considered it a win for him.

  
  


Normally Akaashi wouldn’t dare spend more than a minute in Suga’s room. Usually, the fact Suga couldn’t keep his room clean for more than a day caused Akaashi great pain. It was why they had developed the ‘door closed’ rule, allowing Akaashi to at least pretend the mess didn’t exist.

Today, however, the mess was Akaashi’s savior as he worked to hide various alarm clocks throughout the room. Akaashi knew that Suga liked to take a midday nap on Wednesdays after his one class. It was how Suga liked to catch up on the sleep he missed out on by staying up late every other night. Therefore, if several alarms were set to go off during this time...

“Aka-chan? What are you doing in Suga’s room?”

Akaashi swore under his breath and hid the last alarm clock behind his back. He hadn’t expected Oikawa to be home yet. 

“I’m just looking for something of mine that he borrowed,” he said and looked around the room, trying to find the perfect spot to hide the alarm. “Oh look! There it is!”

Akaashi walked over near Suga’s bed and pulled a sweater from the floor. As he did, he slid the alarm behind the headboard of Suga’s bed, keeping it out of reach so that Suga would need to move his bed to get at it.

“That isn’t yours..." Oikawa stared Akaashi down, his brows furrowed in a warning.

“Oh, you’re right. Silly me,” Akaashi said and threw the sweater onto the bed.

His eyes caught sight of a small green book peeking out from under Suga’s mattress. Curious, Akaashi pulled it from the poor hiding spot; the cover read: _Book of Encounters._

“What’s this?” Akaashi asked as he flipped through the pages.

“I can’t believe he still keeps that,” Oikawa said with a chuckle. “He likes to write down his impressions of the people he interacts with.”

Akaashi read from the book, “Oikawa Tooru, setter from Seijoh. I bet he spends an obscene amount of time on his hair. Rating: if I’m desperate.”

“What!” Oikawa yelled as he crossed the mess to stand next to Akaashi and read from the book himself. “He told me that he wrote I was ‘devilishly handsome and the best volleyball player he had ever met.’”

Akaashi laughed, a smug smile on his face as he said, “Well he obviously lied to you.” Then Akaashi read the next entry. 

“Iwaizumi Hajime, ace from Seijoh. Probably the undefeated arm wrestling champion. Just look at those arms. Rating: absolutely.”

Oikawa scoffed and grabbed the book from Akaashi’s hand, making annoyed vocalizations as he flipped through the pages. Akaashi looked back under the mattress to find a few more notebooks—all filled with random opinions of strangers and people they knew. He couldn’t help but think Suga should find a better hiding spot for them; it would be quite embarrassing if the contents were to ever get out.

  
  


Oikawa threw the volleyball up. With a light run, he jumped, meeting the ball at his apex and sending it over the net with as much force as he could muster. It hit the other side just outside the line, missing the bottle he had set up by a few centimeters. 

When he landed back on the ground, he groaned, throwing his head back before burying it in his hands. He was so close, but those few centimeters were the difference between a service ace and giving a point to the other team. 

“Don’t practice too long today. Give yourself a small break,” Oikawa’s coach called from the gym doorway. 

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Oikawa said with his usual smile and a wave. “I’m just blowing off a little steam.”

His coach stared at him for a moment; his eyes questioned the truth of Oikawa’s words, but Oikawa knew his own limits by now. Therefore, his coach shrugged after a moment and left Oikawa alone with just his thoughts and a volleyball.

_If I’m desperate._

Oikawa still could not believe Suga would rate him so low. He would be lucky to sleep with him. Not that Oikawa was particularly planning on it, but the thought that someone would _not_ want to sleep with him was just unfathomable.

After an hour or so—having only a fifty-percent success rate with his serves—Oikawa decided it might be time to call it quits. He walked over to his bag, pulling his water bottle from the side pocket. As he took a sip, he picked up his phone. Oikawa nearly spit out the water when he saw the messages from his roommates.

##### Conversation: ✌️ bitches + me 💅

>> WHO THE FUCK HID 10 ALARM CLOCKS IN MY ROOM !!! [image attached]  
Refreshing Bitch

>> Oh Suga, I see someone needs to put money in the swear jar 😏  
>> But that sounds absolutely awful. Hope you found them all 😊  
Bitch Baby

>> It was you wasn’t it?  
>> Oikawa isn’t this clever  
Refreshing Bitch

>> You think I’m clever? That’s so sweet of you to say  
Bitch Baby

>> SERIOUSLY AKAASHI THIS MEANS WAR !!!  
Refreshing Bitch

>> Oh babe, I was already at war  
Bitch Baby

Could you two please not... <<  
I rather not come home to a destroyed apartment <<  
Also, hey! I AM PLENTY CLEVER !! <<

Oikawa quickly cleaned up the gym. The back and forth between his roommates had just reached a new level and, for once, he had to be the responsible one to make sure they didn’t destroy the apartment—or worse, their friendship...

No, Oikawa was pretty sure their friendship would be fine. If Akaashi could forgive him for spending ¥70,000 on polaroids, then he could forgive Suga for whatever would happen the next few days. There would just be chaos like the apartment had yet to see.

  
  


When Oikawa got home, he was surprised to find Akaashi and Suga casually watching a movie together on the couch. There wasn’t an ounce of hatred between them; it was like any other day, or rather it wasn’t because they were too quiet.

Oikawa was nervous. Whatever the pair intended to do was bad enough they were pretending it wasn’t happening. They were in the calm before the storm; a storm that hit a couple days later when Akaashi stomped into the kitchen.

“What happened to my sweater?!” Akaashi slammed a sweater on the table. It was the same one that had been a few sizes too large for Akaashi, only now it was a couple sizes too small.

Suga couldn’t keep a smug grin off his face as he turned to Akaashi. “Oh wow, that is tiny. How did that ever happen?”

Akaashi glared at Suga. “You ruined my favorite comfy sweater,” he spoke through clenched teeth. Each word strained like it was holding back a punch.

“You stole it from some guy, so I think you’ll live without it,” Suga said.

The two stared at each other. Akaashi’s hands were in tight fists, and Oikawa could tell he was biting his tongue. Suga sat in the stool—eyes cool—waiting for Akaashi to make the next move.

Oikawa moved closer to the pair, ready to step in if need be. Trying to voice some reason, he said, “It’s too warm outside to even wear a sweater right now anyway, Aka-chan, and by winter, you’ll have forgotten all about it.”

Akaashi's eyes were calculating, and then Oikawa saw him relax; his anger turned into smugness. 

“You know what, it’s fine,” Akaashi said smiling sweetly. “It’ll make a nice fall cropped sweater now.”

Oikawa knew Suga was annoyed, but he also knew he would never let it show. In that way, he and Akaashi were similar. The two of them were caught up in mind games, posing as if nothing bothered them just to spite the other. Although no one could truly compete with Suga in terms of actually accepting chaos, Akaashi did put on a good performance—and Oikawa applauded him for it.

  
  


Akaashi knew exactly how to get Suga back for the sweater, and he knew Oikawa was going to be grumpy about it because Akaashi may be taking things a little too far. Ironically, it had been Oikawa walking in on him planting the alarm clocks that led to this particular prank. Without the interruption, Akaashi probably would have never noticed the notebooks Suga kept hidden.

Now he sat in the kitchen with the notebook nearby and ready to be used. At first he had thought about setting up a blog, but that was more work than it was worth. He needed something quick to set up, with a large audience, and made for sharing unsolicited opinions. 

“Aka-chan what are you doing?” Oikawa asked as he walked past Akaashi to grab a glass of water. He eyed the opened journal next to Akaashi’s laptop.

“I’m setting up a Twitter account.” 

It wasn’t like Akaashi was trying to keep what he was doing a secret. Suga would know it was him, and it wasn’t like Oikawa could really stop him. After all, he’d already gone through the work of setting up a dump email and signing up on Twitter with it.

“Don’t you already have one?” Akaashi could hear the questioning confusion in Oikawa’s voice. 

He couldn’t keep a wry smirk off his face when he looked away from his laptop to meet Oikawa’s stare as he said, “This one isn’t for me.”

Oikawa crossed the kitchen to stand next to Akaashi, looking over his shoulder at the screen.

“ _Koushi Confessions,_ ” Oikawa read out loud. There were a few beats of silence, and Akaashi assumed Oikawa was looking at the tweets he had already posted to the account.

“Aka-chan, what did you do?!” 

“What’s the point of judging people if you aren’t going to share it out to the world,” Akaashi said.

It wasn’t like he was including the actual names of the people Suga had judged; he had kept it fairly anonymized. Akaashi had even removed the obscene rating system to stray away from objectifying random strangers. Each tweet simply contained the description, opinion, location, and date that Suga noted in the journal.

Oikawa voiced disappointment in a series of random frustrated vocalizations; Akaashi could practically hear the way he was probably waving his hands around. Still, he ignored the objection and tweeted out another confession.

  
  


Suga ran his hands through Asahi’s hair, pulling the stray strands out of the other’s face. He leaned down to bring their lips together. No matter how often they kissed, there was always a moment of hesitance from Asahi. His hands hovered around Suga’s waist, waiting for permission to move. 

Asahi got permission in the form of Suga’s tongue slipping into his mouth. Emboldened, he gripped Suga’s hips and led him in a slow grind and their mouths worked over each other—hungry and messy. 

There was just one thing that kept interrupting the moment...

“Uh Suga- _aahhh_ \- Your phone keeps going off,” Asahi said as Suga kissed down his neck. The phone in question buzzed incessantly on the ground nearby the couch. 

Suga lightly grazed his lips along Asahi’s neck as he moved up to the other’s ear, causing Asahi to shudder. “Just ignore it,” he whispered. 

Asahi did for a while. He resituated Suga on his lap and traced his own lips across Suga’s skin, coaxing out quiet moans that filled the room. His hands slipped under Suga’s shirt and ran up his back. 

Then Asahi’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and Suga forced Asahi to ignore it by crashing their lips together again. When the phone vibrated again, Suga ran his hands down Asahi’s chest and slipped them under his shirt, teasing small touches along Asahi’s skin.

The phone vibrated a third time... Fourth time... Fifth...

Suga was still insisting Asahi ignore it—just not with his words—but Asahi couldn’t. He gently pulled Suga from his lap and shifted him to be next to him before he reached into his pocket for his phone.

“It’s Daichi... And Tanaka... And Kuroo," Asahi said, scrolling through his messages. 

Given that everyone knew Suga and Asahi had entered a sort of friends with benefits situation—having made out in front of half the people they knew—it came as no surprise that they would reach out to Asahi when Suga ignored his phone. 

“Um...” 

“What is it?” Suga asked.

“Daichi told me to look at a Twitter profile,” Asahi said. 

“Why?”

Asahi set his phone aside and grabbed his laptop from the bag. When he located the profile, he turned the screen to Suga without a word.

**Koushi Confessions 🙊** @koushi_confessions  
To the asshole who yelled at the barista, your voice is really annoying and maybe you shouldn’t open it again  
\- 16th May 2014, Soap

🗨️ 3 ⟲ 78 ♡ 239

**Koushi Confessions 🙊** @koushi_confessions  
To the guy who always sits under the tree, do you realize everyone is in love with you?  
\- 8th October 2013, Tokyo University

🗨️ 11 ⟲ 59 ♡ 470

Suga read through the tweets and recognized them to be the contents of his notebook instantly. Although there were less than a hundred tweets, the account was already getting a lot of attention. 

People were replying trying to figure out who the comment was about: tagging their friends or even outing themselves as the possible subject of the opinion. 

**Koushi Confessions 🙊** @koushi_confessions  
To the girl in chemistry that sits second row third seat, I bet you color code your notes  
\- 5th August 2013, Tokyo University 

🗨️ 12 ⟲ 32 ♡ 182

> **Show Me the Momo-ney** @itsmomo  
>  replying to @koushi_confessions  
>  @skra427 didn’t you take chemistry that semester?
> 
> 🗨️ 1 ⟲  ♡ 2
> 
> **Sakura 💕 🌸** @skra427  
>  I did, but that isn’t where I sat .. but i think @whatsausername sat there
> 
> 🗨️ 2 ⟲  ♡ 2
> 
> **what’s in a name ?** @whatsausername  
>  I DID SIT THERE!!! AND YES I DO COLOR CODE MY NOTES
> 
> 🗨️  ⟲ 4 ♡ 14

 **Koushi Confessions 🙊** @koushi_confessions  
To the new libero, I hope you figure out you’re bisexual soon  
\- 11th April 2011, Karasuno High

🗨️ 23 ⟲ 91 ♡ 328

> **Do I a-Noya?** @rollingthunder  
>  replying to @koushi_confessions  
>  WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME WHEN YOU KNEW !!
> 
> 🗨️ 2 ⟲  ♡ 78

>  **Sawamura Daichi** @swmrdch  
>  replying to @koushi_confessions  
>  SUGA YOU CAN’T JUST OUT SOMEONE LIKE THAT 
> 
> 🗨️ 1 ⟲ 3 ♡ 18
> 
> **Tanaka 💪** @tanakaryuu  
>  Noya came out last year dude
> 
> 🗨️ 1 ⟲  ♡ 14
> 
> **Do I a-Noya?** @rollingthunder  
>  yeah what Ryuu said
> 
> 🗨️ 2 ⟲  ♡ 9

“Oh my gods!” Suga shouted, grabbing Asahi’s laptop and pulling the screen closer to his face.

“Should we report the profile for pretending to be you?” The concern in Asahi’s voice was clear.

Suga looked up and met Asahi’s worried stare that turned to confusion when Suga said, “Huh?”

“Aren’t you going to do something about the account?” Asahi asked.

Suga laughed. “Naaawwww, it’s not like Akaashi kept the names.” 

Asahi gave Suga a quizzical look. “What were you freaking out about then?” he asked, referring back to Suga’s outburst a moment ago.

“This account has over two-thousand followers and it was only created today. Look!” Suga flipped and pointed to the follower count to show Asahi. “Who knew I was so popular!”

Suga could tell Asahi was not comprehending at all. He just looked at the screen and then back to Suga and back to the screen, and Suga sat there with a smile on his face. 

It wasn’t like the journals had been his diary; truly, they were more like random musings, and for the most part, pretty harmless. Suga actually found the Twitter account quite amusing, and he felt a bit of pride that Akaashi had come up with a prank this good. 

“You really don’t care about this, do you?” 

“Not really,” Suga said with a shrug. “Now can we get back to what we were doing before?”

  
  


When Suga got home, Oikawa was surprised to see a hop in his step. As there was no way Suga hadn’t seen the Twitter account by now, Oikawa assumed that he must be fine with it.

In any case, he called an emergency meeting and dragged Suga into the living room, sitting him down on the couch next to Akaashi. Oikawa stood in front of them, arms crossed and brows furrowed.

“Alright, you two have had your fun. Now can this prank war or whatever you want to call it be over now?” Oikawa asked.

Suga and Akaashi looked at each other, silent and bodies attentive as they decided whether or not to grant Oikawa’s wish.

“If Akaashi gives me the password to Koushi Confessions then we can call a truce,” Suga said.

Akaashi shrugged. “Fine by me. I honestly don’t think I could have topped that prank anyway.”

Oikawa stared down his roommates. “So you two promise to not play anymore pranks on anyone who lives in this apartment?” 

“That’s a weird way to phrase it, but sure. No more pranks under this roof for the foreseeable future,” Suga answered and Akaashi nodded in agreement.

Oikawa clapped his hands together. “Great! Now how about we do a little baking to celebrate?”

“By _we_ you mean _me_ ,” Suga said, rolling his eyes. “But okay, why not.”

The three of them piled into the kitchen. Suga mixed the ingredients together, Akaashi watched from a stool, and Oikawa insisted on being the taste tester. Within the hour, they had a plate of fresh cookies.

Akaashi grabbed a handful, and Suga scolded him for not waiting for them to cool at the same time he grabbed one himself. They both took a bite...

Their faces fell to disgust at the taste. Akaashi spit his out instantly, reaching for the glass of water nearby. Suga turned to the sink and washed his mouth out under the faucet. 

“What the——” Akaashi started, stopping himself before he swore.

“Why are those so salty, didn’t you taste-” Suga started to say. Oikawa couldn’t hold in his laughter any longer. He bent over cackling, proud of himself for pulling one over on Akaashi and Suga. They stared at him in bewilderment.

Catching on to what had happened, Suga grabbed the bag of “sugar” and put a small bit on his tongue. “This is salt! What did you do?”

Still laughing, Oikawa opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a plastic bag filled with sugar and placed it next to Suga. He composed himself enough to say, “That’s payback for all the crap I had to put up with this week.”

Suga and Akaashi looked at each other, both piecing together why Oikawa had worded his sentences so oddly about them not pranking anyone in the apartment. 

“Alright. You win,” Suga said before adding, “This time..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really assuming I am writing these for me, al, ami, and a few other people, but if there are other lovers of aka/suga/oi friendship and shenanigans let me know !!!!
> 
> Also, shout out to ami and al for helping me come up with Oikawa's prank at the end (as well as pranks to include in the later prank war chapters)


	5. Old Friend, Old Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Iwaizumi comes to visit, Suga and Akaashi attempt to get Oikawa to confess his feelings.
> 
> Obviously this chapter contains some IwaOi but there is also brief KuroAka
> 
> Chapter specific tags: drinking games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this chapter out for 2/15 aka pretty setter day (I realize it isn't that date everywhere in the world rn, but it's 2/15 somewhere and that is what counts)
> 
> Again, many thanks to the board of directors for petty setter college au al and ami for helping me brainstorm so i could finish this in time 🙂

Suga sauntered his way out of his room, rubbing his eyes and following the smell of fresh breakfast coming from the kitchen. He wondered briefly if Oikawa had bought food again on his run, but the thought didn’t seem quite right. There was something else going on. Something that Suga’s hazy not-yet-awake mind couldn’t remember.

That was until he walked into the kitchen and saw the familiar back of Oikawa’s childhood best friend. Iwaizumi seemed to be cooking an omelet while Oikawa told him all the ways he was doing it wrong (even though Oikawa himself had no idea how to cook).

“Iwaizumi, I didn’t realize you were coming in so early,” Suga said sitting down. The other two turned toward his voice.

“Suga-chan! Didn’t you read my text?” Oikawa asked with a whine before Iwaizumi ordered him to grab plates from the cupboard. 

“Obviously not..." Suga rubbed his eyes again, still not fully awake.

“It’s good to see you again, Suga.” Iwaizumi said. He plated a fresh omelet over some leftover rice. He slid the breakfast over the island to Suga. Then he asked, “Do you want coffee?”

“Yes please,” Suga answered before he began to shovel food into his mouth.

“Will Akaashi want coffee?” 

“Definitely.” Iwaizumi had turned to Oikawa to ask the question, but it was both of them who answered immediately—albeit Suga’s confirmation came with a mouthful of food.

“Speak of the devil,” Oikawa sang, looking behind Suga toward the hall. When Suga spun around he saw Akaashi walking down the hallway looking like the dead.

He wore short shorts almost hidden under a black sweatshirt Suga assumed to be Kuroo’s. It was obvious that Akaashi had forgotten Iwaizumi’s arrival as well (that, or he didn’t seem to care, which was quite possible).

“It’s too early for you to be this happy,” Akaashi grumbled as he sat down in the chair next to Suga, immediately lying his head down on the cold metal surface. 

“Remember, we are going to the beach tomorrow,” Oikawa informed them for the umpteenth time. 

Suga and Akaashi groaned in response and muttered their variations of ‘we know.’

“Hey, don’t give me that sass. You”—Oikawa turned to address Suga—“forgot when Iwaizumi was coming.”

“That’s not true! I remembered when he was coming. I just didn’t realize that day was today.”

Iwaizumi broke the tension by handing both Oikawa and Suga coffee. The argument was forgotten when they took a sip. It was by far the best coffee Suga had ever tasted, even better than the last time Iwaizumi had come to visit. 

“Coffee?” Iwaizumi asked, placing the mug in front of Akaashi.

Akaashi perked up, snatching the mug and bringing it to his mouth. He paused briefly to inhale the aroma before he took a sip. His expressionless face lit up in a mixture of joy and disbelief.

“Fuck-”

“Jar,” Suga and Oikawa said instinctively.

“You made this?” Akaashi asked. He looked toward Iwaizumi who answered with a nod. “This is fu... really amazing. Seriously! It’s even better than when Oikawa makes it.” 

Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a shit-eating grin as he said, “Thank you.”

“I would marry you for this coffee...” Akaashi all but whispered into the mug before he took another sip. His eyes closing while he hummed as he swallowed the coffee.

“Oh uhhhh,” Iwaizumi stammered. This was the first time he had talked to Akaashi in person, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the comment. 

Suga and Oikawa, on the other hand, knew the comment was mostly in adoration of the coffee and not Iwaizumi. Still, it was funny to watch Iwaizumi grow bright red wondering if Akaashi was actually trying to hit on him or not. The two of them broke out into laughter, which turned Iwaizumi’s embarrassment into frustration. He turned back to the stove to continue cooking breakfast.

  
  
  


Later that day, Akaashi was curled up in Kuroo’s lap in the armchair while Suga sat alone on the couch. They were waiting for Oikawa and Iwaizumi to return with popcorn so they could start the movie. Much to Oikawa’s dismay, they decided on watching a generic superhero flick that afternoon. 

“Do you think they know?” Kuroo asked.

“Hmm?” Akaashi hummed. He wasn’t sure what Kuroo was talking about, nor did he feel like moving from the spot he had nuzzled himself into along Kuroo's chest.

Kuroo clarified his question. “Do you think they know that they both like each other?”

Akaashi looked up, following Kuroo’s stare to the kitchen where Iwaizumi and Oikawa were arguing about toppings to add to the popcorn. Akaashi definitely understood what Kuroo was remarking on. Even though the two were fighting, their body language was open toward each other, and ever so often, they would reach out slightly before pulling their hand back. He assumed it was probably subconscious and they had no idea they were even doing it.

“They most definitely do not know,” Akaashi said before wiggling his way back to the comfortable position in Kuroo’s arms.

“Those two have been pining after each other for as long as I’ve known them,” Suga interjected. 

“So why doesn’t anyone help them out?” Kuroo asked.

Akaashi turned his head toward Suga. They didn’t say anything out loud, but there was a conversation. The exchanged looks between them asked “should we do something?” and “well what’s the plan?” There wasn’t much time to figure things out before Iwaizumi and Oikawa were walking back into the living room.

Oikawa gave a fake gag as he walked by Kuroo and Akaashi in the chair before he plopped down on the couch in between Suga and Iwaizumi. 

“Don’t be jealous of our love,” Kuroo teased as he gave Akaashi a kiss on the nose. Akaashi swatted him away. He attempted to act annoyed at the sweet, romantic display of affection, but he knew his face was betraying him, a warm blush rising to his cheeks.

“You know, your boyfriend proposed to Iwa-chan this morning,” Oikawa said, settling the popcorn bowl in his lap.

“You did what!” Kuroo exclaimed, pulling Akaashi away from his chest. The small hint of a smile gave away Kuroo’s fake anger.

“He made excellent coffee,” Akaashi explained. “A marriage proposal was the only appropriate response.”

Kuroo laughed, and pulled Akaashi in again. “Honestly, that’s fair.”

Oikawa scoffed at his failed attempt to create a fight, which resulted in both Suga and Iwaizumi hitting his arms. The popcorn bowl fell to the floor, spilling the contents.

Another batch would have to be made...

  
  
  


The four of them made their way to the beach midday Saturday. It was slightly cooler than it had been the past few weekends, but still more than warm enough for them all to be sweating under the hot sun before they even did anything. They settled their items on the sand near the volleyball net, where another group of college students were currently playing a casual game.

“Suga-chan! Put sunscreen on my back,” Oikawa asked, holding out the sunscreen to his roommate. 

“Sorry, I have to help Akaashi,” Suga said, placing a hand on Akaashi’s shoulder. He gave Oikawa a fake apologetic smile. 

“What?” he said as he faced Suga, a quizzical look meeting Suga’s stare. Suga’s eyes darted briefly in Oikawa’s direction and then back to Akaashi.

“I mean, yes. I need Suga’s help with... taking a picture to send to Kuroo. Why don’t you ask Iwaizumi?”

Oikawa was certain they were up to something, but he didn’t have time to sit and interrogate them. He could already feel his skin burning under the sun.

With the sunscreen in hand, he walked over to Iwaizumi. The words were on the tip of his tongue, ready to ask. But then Iwaizumi pulled off his shirt...

It wasn’t the first time Oikawa had seen Iwaizumi topless. There were plenty of times in his life that he’d seen his best friend without a shirt. It shouldn’t be a big deal. After the one gay panic back in high school when Iwaizumi started _really_ working out, Oikawa had gotten used to the idea of his muscle-clad best friend being attractive.

Yet, the addition of sun-kissed skin from the California sun paired with a body that had only gotten better was a whole other sight. Oikawa lost words; he forgot how to breath. 

“Shittykawa!” 

By the furrow in Iwaizumi’s brows Oikawa assumed that the other had been trying to get his attention for a while. He fought the blush rising to his cheeks, hoping Iwaizumi hadn’t noticed his staring.

“Did you put on sunscreen? You’re going to burn.” Iwaizumi’s voice was grumpy, but Oikawa knew he was speaking out of concern.

“That is actually why I came over here,  _ Iwa-chan _. I need you to put sunscreen on my back.” He tossed the sunscreen to Iwaizumi. 

Before Iwaizumi could complain, Oikawa turned around. Unsure where to look, his eyes fell to the ground, watching his toes slowly sink into the sand as he shifted his weight. It took his entire concentration to stay still when he heard the cap click open, anticipating Iwaizumi’s hand on his back.

Oikawa thought about how ridiculous it was for him to feel this nervous as Iwaizumi slowly worked the sunscreen onto his back. Since they were children, they had always been comfortable with physical touch. So why did today feel so different?

He looked to his roommates, whispering to each other while giving him devious smiles. Whatever mess of feelings that had resurfaced today was all their fault. Oikawa knew this, but he couldn’t just confront them. It wasn’t like he could yell at them for making him ask Iwaizumi for help because it would only further their point. 

“Done,” Iwaizumi whispered, offering the sunscreen back to Oikawa over his shoulder. “Will you put some on my back?”

“Sure, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa cooed, taking the sunscreen and turning around to look at Iwaizumi. “After all, I am the greatest best friend ever.” He buried his feelings under the dramatic facade.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes before he turned around. Oikawa did his best to keep his mind on the task at hand, but as his hands ran along Iwaizumi’s back—outlining his shoulder blades, hovering just above the hem of his trunks, running down his biceps—he couldn’t help but think about how Iwaizumi’s muscles would shift to hold him close.

He swore at himself, remembering that Iwaizumi’s friendship was more important than these feelings he thought he had gotten over a couple years ago.

  
  
  


Suga and Akaashi sat under the shade of an umbrella. Akaashi had been reading a book, but eventually he joined Suga in watching the embarrassing dance Iwaizumi and Oikawa were playing at the water’s edge.

Although the main goal was observing their roommate make a fool of himself as he failed to keep his feelings in check, there was the bonus that Iwaizumi was... not bad to look at.

“I now know what you meant by  _ those arms _,” Akaashi said. 

Akaashi’s eyes drifted over Iwaizumi’s body, and Suga thought he heard Akaashi mumble something about being thankful Kuroo had been too busy to join them. (Which Suga knew was just a sarcastic comment since Akaashi was actually quite down Kuroo had to work that weekend.)

“They are quite difficult to keep your eyes off of, and he seems to be in even better shape now than he was during high school.”

“Poor Oikawa..." Akaashi and Suga said it at the same time. 

The two of them looked away from their friends and to each other before throwing their heads back in laughter. When they both attempted to end the laugh with a sigh simultaneously, their laughter rekindled. They fell backwards, lying down on the towels in the sand. 

Eventually they quieted. Akaashi rolled over onto his stomach, opening his book up to begin reading again. Suga folded his arms behind his head. His eyes traced the colors of the umbrella lit by the sun. 

They laid quietly like that until a volleyball landed on Suga’s chest—and Akaashi’s quick reflexes grabbed it before it bounced away. When they sat up, Oikawa was staring at them with a devious grin from the volleyball court where he and Iwaizumi stood.

“Get over here! We’re playing volleyball!” He shouted at them.

Akaashi rolled his eyes at Oikawa’s demand, but he knew as well as Suga did that this was Oikawa’s main reason for all four of them going to the beach today. They made their way to the court.

“So how are we splitting up for teams?” Akaashi asked when they were close enough to be heard by the other two.

“I call Iwaizumi!” Suga shouted, jumping to grab Iwaizumi’s arm.

“Whaaat! I have always been Iwa-chan’s setter,” Oikawa argued. He crossed his arm, his bottom lip was pulled into an exaggerated pout. 

Iwaizumi threw his arms up. “You three work this out.” He refused to get in the middle of anything.

“Akaashi and I haven’t played in a while and Iwaizumi has a lot of fire power,” Suga explained.

“He is right, if you were to be on the same team as Iwaizumi, it would be incredibly imbalanced.”

Oikawa knew he wasn’t going to win this argument, so he settled on giving Suga a dirty look. His eyes pierced Suga like daggers, and Suga could only imagine what Oikawa was saying in his head at that moment.

“So what’s the wager?” Akaashi asked, attempting to break the tension.

“Losers have to supply dinner?” Suga suggested.

“Works for me,” Akaashi said, and the rest of them nodded in agreement.

Although Suga and Iwaizumi started off strong, it was Akaashi and Oikawa who ended up victorious. Akaashi—although having not gone to a powerhouse school or continuing with the sport—was quite skilled; that along with the combined mind games he and Oikawa played led to an easy win.

However, it was for the best since Iwaizumi was the only one out of any of them that could actually cook.

  
  
  


Iwaizumi had forced them to go to the grocery store on their way back from the beach to grab ingredients. The trio told him that they could just order in, but Iwaizumi insisted that they eat a proper meal—not take-out. They all shut up and just did what he said after that. 

Oikawa knew that Iwaizumi was particular about people taking care of their bodies and health. He’d gotten an ear full more times than he could count for pushing himself too hard and, lately, not eating healthy enough. Iwaizumi cared aggressively, and that was actually one of the things Oikawa found endearing about his best friend.

Back in the apartment, Iwaizumi found a cutting board none of them knew they even had and chopped up more ingredients than the three of them had ever worked with at once. 

“Iwa-chan, this looks so fancy!!” Oikawa mused. He sat at the island with Akaashi, watching Iwaizumi work.

“It’s just ramen,” Iwaizumi stated. 

“Well you’re doing amazing.” Suga’s voice came from behind Iwaizumi.

“Shouldn’t you be cooking as well?” Akaashi asked.

Given that Suga was a part of the losing team, he was supposed to be helping Iwaizumi cook. Instead, he just observed Iwaizumi from where he sat, perched on the countertop with his legs hanging over the side.

“I am moral support.”

“It’s okay, I don’t need Suga’s help,” Iwaizumi said and they all dropped it.

After everything was ready, Suga supplied Iwaizumi with four bowls from their cabinets. They settled on the floor with the ramen around their study table. As they ate they teased each other about the day.

Oikawa thought Iwaizumi seemed a little annoyed when Akaashi and Suga brought up the girls who had offered to buy him ice cream. However, he couldn’t be certain since Iwaizumi simply became frustrated when Oikawa teased him for Akaashi pulling off a one man block against his spike.

When they finished eating, Oikawa realized how exhausted he was. Tired from the amount of sun they had gotten and from how full he was feeling after dinner. He would have liked nothing more than for them all to settle on the couch and watch a movie before going to bed. However, his roommates seemed to have other plans for the night.

  
  
  


Akaashi and Suga brought out all the alcohol they had in the apartment along with a few chasers. They had a little bit of everything, from beer to vodka. 

“Hey, when did we get this?” Oikawa asked, holding up a bottle of tequila.

Suga grabbed the tequila from Oikawa and inspected the label. “I have no idea,” he said.

Akaashi knew exactly where it came from, but that wasn’t a secret he was going to share with his roommates just yet. 

“I think someone left it here after our last party.” His roommates took the explanation and returned the bottle to the table in front of them. 

In various glasses, large and small, they mixed drinks together. An assortment of not-quite-cocktails that only Iwaizumi seemed hesitant to drink. Though their reassurance that it would all taste alright wasn’t believable at all, Iwaizumi agreed to play by the ‘house rules.’

“So what game are we going to play?” Oikawa asked.

“Akaashi, you remember that  _ really fun drinking game _?”

Akaashi had no idea what Suga was talking about, and gave him a confused look. The other stared at him intently. He realized Suga was clueing him in that said drinking game was fictional, but he was supposed to play along.

“Oh right,” Akaashi started, the lies flowing easily from his mouth. “The one we played with Kuroo at the last party.”

“You two played a game without me!” 

“You were... preoccupied,” Akaashi explained, remembering Oikawa making out with a stranger or two at that party.

Iwaizumi’s brows furrowed. Akaashi realized bringing up Oikawa’s hook ups was probably not the best idea when their current goal was to get the two of them to confess.

“So what are the rules?” Iwaizumi asked.

The rules were that there really weren't rules, but Akaashi and Suga weren’t letting the other two know that. Suga’s plan seemed to have two parts. The first consisted of getting everyone very drunk. 

They played a guessing game where every wrong answer resulted in taking a sip. After twenty wrong guesses (which happened often because they were all choosing the most obscure things), they had to finish their drinks. 

Step two of Suga’s plan was to get Oikawa and Iwaizumi alone. Unfortunately, Suga had gone a little overboard with step one, so he was having trouble making up something that resulted in the goal. Every rule ended up with all combinations of pairings except for the one they wanted. The worst fake rule had to be when Suga shouted, “People with brown eyes have to kiss.” He had clearly forgotten that would mean him and Oikawa.

After the two of them kissed over the table, Suga moved on to explain a new rule. “So we are each going to choose a number between one and four. On the count of three, you hold up that number of fingers. If you end up with the same numbers, you have to do seven minutes in heaven.”

Akaashi started the countdown. “One. Two-”

“Wait, what?” Oikawa interrupted, but Akaashi ignored him.

“Three!”

They each held up their numbers: Akaashi held up two fingers, Oikawa one, Iwaizumi four, and Suga... two. At this rate they were never going to get Iwaizumi and Oikawa alone, so Akaashi decided to change things. It was all made up anyway.

“Suga, you told the rule wrong. It was two people with different numbers, not the same number.”

“Right! I always forget that.”

Oikawa protested at the rule change, but they ignored him. They ushered him and Iwaizumi down the hallway into his bedroom, closing the door behind them. Akaashi held the door closed while Oikawa attempted to open it back up.

“Seven minutes!” Suga shouted. 

The room fell silent. Suga pressed his ear against the door, shaking his head when he didn’t hear anything happening. After seven minutes, Oikawa called out, “Alright, that’s seven minutes! You have to let us out now.”

“Did you even kiss?” Suga asked.

Silence.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s been seven minutes… Iwa-chan, try to open the door.”

Suga helped Akaashi keep the door closed. Even though they braced themselves for Iwaizumi’s attempt, they still jolted, having to reground their feet. Iwaizumi was able to open the door a sliver, but he must have realized between the three of them, it was more likely they would break the door than him being able to open it.

“You’re not making it out until you make out!” Suga joked.

Akaashi looked at him, eyebrows raised. Then he simply pointed down the hall toward their living room. Suga rolled his eyes, but he knew what Akaashi was saying. He shuffled off to place money in his ‘pun’ jar while Akaashi kept watch at the door.

  
  
  


Oikawa tried the door again, banging and tugging at it. He was going to murder his roommates. No longer would they be considered his best friends. They had crossed a line—meddled in something that they really had no business in.

“This isn’t funny!” he yelled through the door. “Let us out right now!”

“Sorry! Can’t let you out until you kiss. Those are the rules of the game,” Akaashi said. Oikawa could hear the smirk in his voice.

He threw his hands up in frustration. Walking past Iwaizumi he flopped himself onto his bed. The two of them were going to be stuck in there all night, and they would be lucky if Akaashi and Suga let them out in the morning.

“We should just get it over with...” Iwaizumi grumbled. Oikawa didn’t have to look to know that Iwaizumi was probably standing with his arms crossed, brows furrowed, and his ever present scowl.

“I can’t!” His protest was muffled by the comforter his face was currently buried in.

“It’s just a kiss, Shittykawa!” 

But it wasn’t just a kiss. It was a kiss with  _ Iwaizumi _, his best friend. They had nineteen years of history. Nineteen years of standing by each other through the thick and thin. He couldn’t just throw that all away with a kiss; at least not a kiss prompted by a dumb drinking game.

Oikawa knew that deep down he did want to kiss Iwaizumi. He had been thinking about it for years now, but the fact of the matter was that if it was to happen...

“Not like this!”

Oikawa sat up quickly, realizing what had just come out of his mouth. Horror filled his body. The air became heavy and thick and his skin was on pins and needles. He prayed to the gods that Iwaizumi hadn’t heard.

However, Iwaizumi stared at him, eyes wide, because he had _definitely_ heard him.

Before Iwaizumi could say anything, Oikawa ran back to the door and started banging on it with renewed intensity. “Let me out and I will do whatever you want for a week!”

There was silence from the other side, until Akaashi’s collected voice called back, “Two weeks!”

“Fine!” Oikawa agreed instantly.

They opened the door and he ran out.

The rest of the evening, though brief, was quite awkward. No one talked while they got ready for bed. They fumbled around each other until they secluded back to their respective rooms.

  
  
  


Oikawa stared at the ceiling. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t forget the fact that Iwaizumi was on the other side of the wall, sleeping in his bed. He replayed the horrific moment from a few hours past in his head, wondering if he ruined their friendship. 

Nineteen years of friendship couldn’t be erased; or that was what he told himself. Iwaizumi would eventually forget the embarrassing outburst... He hoped.

Oikawa buried his face in his hands, letting out a frustrated groan. Next to him, Suga stirred in his sleep. He stilled, hoping that he had not awoken his friend. When Suga’s breathing continued again deep and heavy, Oikawa relaxed.

He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone, reading the time: 1:27AM.

With a sigh, he rolled off the bed. He walked carefully out of Suga’s room, avoiding the various obstacles strewn across the floor. As quietly as he could, he opened the door and slid into the hall. 

Oikawa walked on his tip-toes as he made his way to the kitchen. He decided to get something to drink, maybe make some tea. Oikawa knew he needed a simple task to keep his mind off-

“Hi,” Iwaizumi said. 

Oikawa froze when he saw Iwaizumi standing in the kitchen. This was the opposite of what he needed.

“Hello.” His voice came out hoarse as he had been unprepared to talk.

“I’m just getting some water..." Iwaizumi held up the glass. The liquid inside appeared to glow due the moonlight from the window in the living room.

“Me too.”

Oikawa walked by to grab a glass from the cabinet, filling it up with water from the faucet. He stared at the sink while he took a sip, trying not to look back at his friend.

“So, that was weird tonight,” Oikawa said. He turned around to see Iwaizumi looking at him. 

“Right,” Iwaizumi whispered. 

They drank their water in silence. Oikawa opted to dump his glass after taking just a few sips, not wanting to intrude on whatever had brought Iwaizumi out there in the middle of the night. He moved to return to Suga’s room.

“Hey Iwa-chan...” Oikawa’s voice was quiet. He paused to face his friend, unsure what he even wanted to say—or  _ do _.

“Hmm-”

Oikawa leaned in, his eyes shutting as his lips brushed against Iwaizumi’s. His hand came up to cup the other’s cheek. It seemed like a lifetime before Iwaizumi was kissing him back. 

The kiss was chaste, and he had no idea what it meant. Iwaizumi wasn’t pushing him away, and Oikawa wondered whether or not it would be okay for him to take a little more.

He pulled away, keeping his emotions in check as he said, “Goodnight.”

  
  


Suga woke up to Oikawa muttering a semi quiet curse followed by the sound of him kicking something across the room. He assumed the other must have stubbed his toe on one of the various objects on his floor. When Oikawa made it to the bed, he flopped down, causing the bed to shake.

“Ahhhh!” A muffled scream came from Oikawa.

Suga turned to see him with his head buried in the pillow.

“You okay there?” He asked.

Oikawa paused. Though he was still face down, he shifted his arms underneath his forehead to allow enough space for his words to be heard more clearly, “I kissed Iwa-chan.”

Suga let Oikawa tell the story, but he was only vaguely listening. His attention was with the million texts he was sending Akaashi. 

Oikawa was in the middle of talking about water (because apparently that was important to the story) when he paused. Suga’s bedroom door opened, a scoff of disgust coming from the not so mysterious person.

Akaashi walked quickly to get onto the bed, practically jumping across the floor to touch as little as possible. He squeezed in behind Suga; the tiny bed was not meant for three people, but they made it work.

“You kissed Iwaizumi?” Akaashi asked. It was a rhetorical question since Suga texted him the details already.

Suga looked at Akaashi. It was only a brief moment before the two of them burst out laughing.

“Why are you two laughing,” Oikawa turned onto his side to make sure they saw the pout on his lip. “This is a serious matter.”

“I’m sorry,” Suga said when he caught his breath. “It is just that you agreed to do whatever we wanted for two weeks to not have to kiss him and then you kissed him anyway.”

Oikawa stared blankly at them. He tried to keep his face serious, but he couldn’t keep a smile from creeping up when he looked at the other two. Soon they were all laughing.


	6. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The setter squad decides on their group Halloween costume and Akaashi realizes that he isn't as over a crush as he thought.
> 
> Chapter Tags: Alcohol/Drinking, Light Angst, Jealousy, Hurt/Comfort
> 
> This chapter contains some KuroAka (I'm sorry) and hints of AkaKita.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW // very brief mention of suicide
> 
> The setters watch Heather (1988) and briefly discuss the plot so there is (1) spoilers to that movie and (2) a brief mention of suicide notes. If you want to skip this short scene, stop reading at "The other two nodded in agreement" and pick up at "Akaashi sat on the floor..."
> 
> Note: I have included a relative link on "The other two nodded in agreement", so if you click on that, it should jump you down to "Akaashi sat on the floor...". (Trying to make things easier)

Akaashi sat on the couch, scrolling through his Instagram feed. His legs were draped over Kuroo’s lap while Kuroo massaged small circles into his calves absentmindedly. 

Kuroo was currently watching some science documentary that Akaashi couldn’t have been less interested in. A fact he seemed to have picked up on because he reached for the remote. He hit a button a few times to turn the TV volume down.

“Did you want to do something else?” Kuroo asked.

“I’m fine with whatever.”

Akaashi yelped when Kuroo tugged on his legs, causing him to lie on his back. He looked over his phone to see Kuroo hovering above him. Kuroo snaked his head around to kiss along Akaashi’s neck. The phone fell from Akaashi's hands to the ground.

“You’re missing your documentary,” Akaashi stated. He kept his voice as level as possible, not wanting to give Kuroo any sense of satisfaction.

“I can rewatch it later,” Kuroo whispered in Akaashi’s ear. His hand moved down to Akaashi’s thigh as he asked, “What time are the other two getting back?”

The apartment door slammed open and Suga’s voice boomed through the room. “Akaaaaaaaaashi!” 

Kuroo’s hands stilled and he dropped his head into the space between Akaashi and the back of the couch with a sigh. “I really shouldn’t have asked,” he said more to himself then Akaashi.

“ _AKAAAAA-CHAN!_ We know you’re home! We see your shoes!”—Oikawa paused when they turned the corner to see Kuroo and Akaashi entangled on the couch—“Oh, did we interrupt something?”

His roommates gave him playful smiles. Akaashi knew those faces. They were the faces of two people who were going to bring up this moment to make fun of him for a week at least.

“You’re fine,” Akaashi said as he pushed Kuroo off. The two of them sat back up on the couch.

Akaashi could see his roommates wanted to tell him something. They were practically jumping out of their skin. 

“What’s going on?”

“We had the best idea!” Oikawa proclaimed.

Akaashi waited for them to continue, but they just smiled at him. “And that idea is?” he prompted.

“Oh right! We were talking about the party this weekend, and we were coming up with ideas on how-”

“We should do a group Halloween costume!” Suga interrupted.

“ _I_ wanted to tell him,” Oikawa whined, crossing his arms.

“You were taking too long,” Suga said as he punched Oikawa in the arm. Oikawa rubbed his arm with a frown as Suga turned back to Akaashi to continue. “So what do you say?”

Akaashi gave a small shrug. “Sure.”

Kuroo glanced at him with sad eyes and his bottom lip pulled into a pout. “You told me we couldn’t do a couple’s costume!”

“You wanted to be serial killers.”

“No! I wanted us to dress up as _a cereal killer,_ ” Kuroo explained. 

“Oh, like one of you dresses up like a box of cereal and the other carries a fake knife around like a killer.” Suga seemed quite interested in Kuroo’s costume idea, which wasn’t a huge surprise.

“Exactly!”

Akaashi pointed to Suga’s pun jar while staring at his boyfriend. As this was not the first time he had done something like this, Kuroo didn’t even protest. He pulled some money from his wallet and placed it in the jar.

Suga chuckled as he praised the idea. “I think it’s brilliant.”

“Please don’t encourage him.” Both Suga and Kuroo whined at Akaashi, but he ignored them as he turned to Oikawa. “So what are your ideas for our costumes?”

“Well Suga thought we should dress up as a giant s’more, but I say we should dress up as an alien abduction.”

Akaashi made a face. “Those are both terrible ideas.”

“Oh, like you can think of a better one,” Oikawa challenged.

“Easily.”

  
  
  


Oikawa rushed into the classroom. A few students turned to face him, but he ignored them as he took the steps by threes to the top of the lecture hall where his roommates always sat. 

“Running a little late,” Suga said as he looked up to watch Oikawa walk their way.

“Got held up at practice.” 

Oikawa gave Suga a quick kiss as he passed behind him. Because Akaashi seemed to be preoccupied scribbling something down, Oikawa planted a quick peck on his cheek before sitting down next to him. 

The professor greeted the students to indicate the beginning of the lecture. He wrote a summary of the previous class onto the chalkboard. Oikawa pulled his notebook from his backpack and opened it to an empty page. He was pretty sure it was his turn to pay attention and take their class notes.

“Akaashi thinks he’s come up with the perfect group Halloween costume,” Suga whispered, leaning forward to look past Akaashi to Oikawa.

“I still think the alien abduction was a great idea.” Oikawa attempted to pay attention to both his roommates and the professor, glancing between them, his notes, and the board.

“I am not dressing up like a UFO,” Akaashi stated leaning back in his chair. “Or a cow,” he added when Oikawa opened his mouth to suggest it.

“Okay fine. So what is your idea?”

“ _Ahem,_ ” the professor cleared his throat. He had stopped lecturing and eyed the three of them. “I’m not interrupting your conversation am I?”

Oikawa bowed his head in apology, “We’re sorry. Please continue.”

They were all quiet after that. Suga and Akaashi half paid attention to the lecture while passing notes back and forth, and Oikawa focused on copying down the information that would be relevant to their papers and exams.

When class ended, most students immediately began to pack up to leave, but a few hovered around to talk to the professor. Oikawa knew most of them were probably trying to suck up—make sure their faces were known.

“Alright, so what is this wonderful idea?” Oikawa asked. He closed his notebook and tucked the pen into the binding before slipping it back into his bag.

Suga and Akaashi were already standing with their backpacks on, waiting for him so they could leave.

“We dress up as Heathers,” Akaashi said.

“Heathers?” 

Oikawa wasn’t sure what Akaashi had meant by _Heathers_ , he knew ‘Heather’ to be an American name. He was pretty sure Iwaizumi had a roommate named Heather—or maybe it was his roommate’s girlfriend. Either way, he wasn’t sure how they were supposed to dress up like a name.

His roommates gave each other a brief look and Oikawa realized he must have missed something. 

“ _Heathers._ Like the 80s American movie,” Suga explained.

“Never heard of it.”

Suga gasped dramatically. He placed a hand over his heart as if Oikawa had committed a great crime.

Akaashi rolled his eyes. “It’s not that surprising,” he said.

“Doesn’t matter! This is now required viewing for the apartment, and we are watching it tonight.”

“Whatever you say,” Oikawa said while Akaashi answered, “Fine by me.”

Oikawa swung his backpack over his shoulder, and the three of them made their way to the exit. As they left, they thanked their professor; apologetic smiles graced each of their faces. 

Outside the classroom, Suga snuck between Oikawa and Akaashi. He latched onto their arms, practically dragging them when he began to skip along.

“You’re going to _love_ the movie,” Suga cooed.

“Can we pick up some food on our way home?” Akaashi asked. 

It was obvious to Oikawa that Akaashi’s mind had drifted elsewhere the moment they left the classroom. He stared vacantly off into the distant, barely even acknowledging their presence anymore.

The other two laughed, jolting Akaashi from his stare. “So new plan: we get food and then we watch the movie,” Suga said. The other two nodded in agreement.

  
  
  


Empty take-out containers were strewn across the floor in front of their couch. The final credits of the movie rolled on. Suga reached for the remote to turn down the volume. He and Akaashi looked expectantly at Oikawa, waiting for him to react.

“That was... not what I was expecting at all,” Oikawa said, eyes glued to the TV. He gesticulated wildly at the screen. “They just killed Heather Chandler... and then those two guys... and then the whole bomb... I... I don’t know what to really say.” 

“But did you like it?” Suga asked.

It was an important question. The movie was a little... much. Suga knew it wasn’t for everyone. However, even recognizing all the problems, the movie was iconic. This was especially true for the Heathers themselves. They were bullies and terrible to each other and others, but there was just something about the bad 80s outfits and the opening croquet scene that made them some of his favorite characters.

“I want to say no, but... I kind of really liked it. I don’t even know why. It was an absurd dark comedy centered around idyllic suicide notes.”

“And what do you think about the idea of us dressing up as Heathers for Halloween?” Akaashi asked.

“Again, I want to hate it because they were mean, but I actually love the idea. And Suga is definitely Heather Duke.”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended or not,” Suga remarked. His roommates didn’t seem to know either and merely shrugged. Whether they could determine the reason or not, it did seem fitting.

“Well, if Suga is Heather Duke, it seems easiest to just go by heights. So that would make you”—Akaashi poked Oikawa—“Heather McNamara.”

“Wait, no! I look terrible in yellow!”

“So then you’re Heather Chandler,” Suga said.

“But then I’m the one who dies!”

“Well those are your two choices. Death or yellow.” Akaashi stared at him.

Crossing his arms, Oikawa slumped back into the couch. With a pout, he said, “Fine. I choose death.”

  
  
  


Akaashi sat on the floor at their study table working on his upcoming paper for his popular literature course. Suga and Oikawa had been studying as well, but got sidetracked in analyzing Iwaizumi’s latest Instagram posts.

“ _Aka-chan,_ do you think this girl is staring at Iwa-chan a little too intimately?” Oikawa shoved his phone in front of Akaashi’s face. 

Though he hadn’t been listening fully, he understood the situation to be that Iwaizumi had recently posted several pictures to his Instagram with the same woman. It looked innocent to Akaashi, but he realized that Oikawa was reading much further into things since he and Iwaizumi failed to talk about their late-night kiss in the kitchen.

He didn’t want to call Oikawa out on this, but it was getting increasingly difficult the more the other asked for his opinion. Luckily, Akaashi was saved from having to answer by the knock on the door. 

“I’ll get it!”

His roommates gave each other odd glances at the excitement in his voice over a visitor, but he ignored it. He knew the person at their door would be Kita with a particular item they needed for their costumes. 

Akaashi ran to the door, peeking through the peephole out of habit. He barely registered the figure as Kita before he unlocked and opened the door.

“Kita-san. Come in.” He stepped aside to give Kita room to enter.

As Kita walked in, Akaashi noticed the cloth bag in his hand. “I just came to drop off these,” Kita said, handing Akaashi the bag.

Akaashi opened it to reveal three croquet mallets, each detailed in a different color: green, yellow, and red. When he had mentioned how difficult it was to find croquet mallets that both looked similar to the ones from the movie and would arrive in time for the party, Kita had offered to make them. Apparently, woodworking was another one of Kita’s various skills.

“These look amazing,” Akaashi said. He couldn’t help the smile on his face. 

“Glad they’re whatcha were lookin’ for.”

“More than... Do you want to come in? I can make some tea. I’m sure Oikawa and Suga would enjoy thanking you in person.”

Kita gave an apologetic smile, and Akaashi’s stomach dropped. “I have someplace to be soon, but I’ll see ya three at the party on Friday.”

“Of course..."

Kita said goodbye and Akaashi watched him walk down the apartment hall to the stairwell before shutting the door. He closed the bag and hid it behind his back as he walked back into the living room.

Oikawa was lying with his head in Suga’s lap, still scrolling through Instagram. He pointed his phone up to Suga while he detailed what was suspicious about the photo. Suga simply nodded and continued to run his fingers through the other’s hair. He, also, was avoiding calling Oikawa out on not telling Iwaizumi how he felt.

Upon noticing Akaashi’s return, Suga said, “Who was at the door?”

“It was just Kita. He was dropping off something.”

“What was it?”

“Close your eyes.”

Oikawa sat up and exchanged a quizzical look with Suga. “Why?”

“Just do it,” Akaashi ordered. The two of them covered their eyes with their hands.

Akaashi pulled the mallets from the bag. Seeing them fully out, he noticed how much detail Kita had put into them. Kita had truly taken the image Akaashi sent him and copied it perfectly.

“Okay, open them,” he said when he had the items comfortably in his hands.

Oikawa and Suga uncovered their eyes. Their faces lit up when they saw the surprise, jumping off the couch to each grab their respective croquet mallet. 

“Where did Kita get these?” Oikawa asked.

“He made them,” Akaashi answered.

“He made these? This is some fancy work.” Suga turned the mallet in his hands, inspecting every inch.

“Kita has many talents,” Akaashi said. His roommates raised their eyebrows. “Wait! No! I didn’t mean it like-”

The other two started laughing, cutting him off. Akaashi felt his face warm. He really hadn’t meant to suggest anything. He was dating Kuroo after all—not Kita.

“Did you ask Asahi about the outfits?” Akaashi asked Suga, switching the topic.

“Yeah, he said he’d be happy to help out.”

“I still can’t believe you broke up and are staying friends.”

“To be fair, we were never really _dating._ We just agreed to stop sleeping together because he wanted to look for something more serious and we both knew I wasn’t offering that.”

For as emotionally unavailable as Suga was, he always made it clear what he was looking for and what he could offer. Akaashi admired that. He wished he could be as up front about his feelings... 

“Our costumes are going to be so good, we will surely win a prize,” Oikawa said, swinging the mallet to rest on his shoulder, a wide grin on his face.

“I don’t think there is a costume contest,” Suga said. 

Oikawa’s smile disappeared and his eyes widened. “NO COSTUME CONTEST! That isn’t right. I must change that,” he said. He walked back to the couch and grabbed his phone, his fingers typing furiously as he grumbled to himself.

“Do we want to ask?” Akaashi whispered to Suga.

“I think it is probably best we don’t.”

  
  
  


Suga, Akaashi, and Kuroo were currently standing around the kitchen waiting for Oikawa. He proclaimed that he would be done in fifteen minutes three times in the last hour. Of course, Oikawa always took the longest to get ready, but this evening felt like he decided to embrace his role as Heather Chandler and make sure they all followed his schedule.

“How long are you going to take!” Suga yelled out. Oikawa called out for another fifteen minutes and the three of them sighed.

“What could he be doing for almost an hour?” Kuroo asked. He was sipping on a beer leaning against their counter. 

Akaashi and Suga looked at each other, answering Kuroo at the same time, “His hair.”

Oikawa did come out fifteen minutes later, looking exactly the same as he did every day. “Did you even do anything to your hair,” Akaashi asked.

“What do you mean _did I even do anything?_ Obviously I did something. It now has the perfect fluff. But I wouldn’t expect you all to understand considering none of you really take care of your hair and two of you walk around with bedhead.”

“Jar!” the entire kitchen shouted at Oikawa. He rolled his eyes before walking back into the living room to place money into his jar.

It was a relatively short walk to Osamu and Suna’s apartment. However, because Oikawa had taken so long to get ready, the party was in full swing when they got there. They added their shoes to the pile at the genkan before walking inside.

Since it was a Halloween party, the majority of people were in costumes—most of which being some kind of animal or pokémon but there was the occasional witch or anime character. However, the most obnoxious costume was Bokuto’s.

When the four of them entered, the wing spiker spotted them immediately. He waved to get Kuroo’s attention. The cardboard box he was wearing almost knocked a few people over as he wove through the party goers to greet them.

“I’m so thankful you chose to dress up as the killer,” Akaashi said.

“I knew there was no chance you’d kiss me if I was wearing the cereal costume,” Kuroo answered.

“That’s very true, but you still might not get any kisses,” Akaashi teased. He leaned in to whisper something in Kuroo’s ear. Suga didn’t hear what it was, but it received an eye roll from Kuroo.

“Nice costume,” Suga said when Bokuto reached them. He chuckled to himself because cereal killer was a fantastic costume in his opinion, and although he very much enjoyed the fact he, Oikawa, and Akaashi decided on doing a group costume, he would’ve loved to have seen Akaashi as a cereal box.

“Thanks! Kuroo-kun has the best ideas,” Bokuto said as he patted Kuroo on the shoulder. 

Next to Suga, Oikawa snickered at the disdain on Akaashi’s face. 

“If you excuse us, we need to get drinks,” Suga said.

Akaashi promised to bring Kuroo back a beer as Suga grabbed both him and Oikawa by the arm and dragged them to the kitchen, where Suga made them drinks while Oikawa poured a few shots. 

As usual, they each were pulled in various directions. Akaashi left to give Kuroo his beer, Oikawa fell into conversation with some of his teammates, and Suga went to flirt with some of the unfamiliar—but very attractive—faces. They still kept an eye on each other, just in case they needed saving.

  
  
  


Akaashi sat on the couch with Kuroo’s arm wrapped around him. Kuroo was recounting a story about a mishap in his chemistry class to Bokuto, but Akaashi wasn’t really listening. His attention was elsewhere.

On the other side of the room, Sakusa and another person—someone he recognized from campus—were talking to Kita. They were all so close, and Akaashi didn’t know why because there was more than enough room in the corner they stood in. 

The familiar face placed his hand on Kita’s shoulder, laughing at something that had been said.

Something tightened inside Akaashi’s chest. He tipped his cup to take another sip. Just ice hit his lips, and Akaashi quietly cursed to himself. He was certain his drink had just been full. Akaashi grabbed the beer from Kuroo’s hand and finished it. Kuroo shot him a quick, worried glance.

“I’ll go get you another,” Akaashi mumbled before getting up off the couch. He ignored everyone on his way to the kitchen. 

With wild abandon, Akaashi started to mix various alcohol together. His thoughts drifted back to the way Kita’s eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled at something Sakusa said; the way Kita didn’t even seem uncomfortable when the two _invaded_ his personal space; and the way he listened intently as the taller talked.

Akaashi's hands just moved, filling up his cup with whatever was nearby and available. It really didn’t matter how it tasted, he just needed a drink. Something he could sip to forget the growing jealousy he was feeling.

Akaashi recognized it was ridiculous and that he had no right to feel this way. He was with Kuroo, and Kita, as a single college student, had every right to flirt and be flirted with. Kita decided on a friendship with Akaashi, and Akaashi wanted to be okay with that.

“I don’t even think Suga would drink that, Aka-chan.” Oikawa’s voice startled Akaashi. He wasn’t sure when the other had entered the kitchen or how long he had been standing behind him.

“That just means I’m stronger than Suga,” Akaashi spat back. He really hadn’t meant for his voice to sound mean. His anger wasn’t with his roommates or Kuroo or really anyone but himself. He knew he shouldn’t be taking his problems out on others. 

“Are you okay?”

Akaashi ignored the question as he grabbed the beer he had promised Kuroo. His own drink in one hand and Kuroo’s in the other, Akaashi started making his way back to the living room. Before he got too far, he turned back to his roommate.

“I think it’s time to dance.” 

Whatever worry Oikawa had written on his face melted away into a smile. He didn’t need to be asked twice, and he happily followed Akaashi back. The moment the beer left his hand into Kuroo’s, Akaashi was being dragged backwards.

Kuroo gave him a small smile. It wasn’t the first time Akaashi had been stolen away by one of his roommates. Akaashi thought about how understanding Kuroo was of the close friendship the three of them shared. It was a stark contrast from the few people he dated briefly before. 

The pit in Akaashi’s stomach twisted further. He knew he didn’t deserve Kuroo. Not when he was lying to him by fact of omission. He took a sip of his drink. It burned his throat and he grimaced at the taste, but it was what he had asked for...

Akaashi drank. He danced. He ignored everyone but Oikawa in front of him. Maybe it was one song later or ten, but eventually his lips found their way onto Oikawa’s. It wasn’t anything new for them to be making out—it was actually a regular occurrence, especially at parties. However, there was a sense of urgency in Akaashi's actions.

He needed this. The physical intimacy without the obligation of relationships. Akaashi needed the certainty of his friendship. 

  
  
  


Akaashi was definitely drunker than Oikawa had seen him in a while. The younger was currently wrapped around Oikawa’s neck, mumbling about how grateful he was that they became friends. 

“Alright, Aka-chan. I think it’s time we get you home,” Oikawa said. 

Akaashi whined about being totally fine. He attempted to stand up fully, but immediately slumped back down onto Oikawa because he was unable to hold up his own weight.

Oikawa scanned the room, finding Suga chatting in the corner with a guy Oikawa only vaguely recognized. Suga had his hand on the other’s arm, a playful smile on his face. Oikawa felt a little sorry for the man, knowing Suga already had him wrapped around his finger.

When Suga noticed Oikawa staring at him with Akaashi obviously wasted, his expression changed. He said something and crossed the room to help Oikawa. The man he had been talking to watched him walk away, looking heartbroken.

“Is he-”

Suga didn’t get to finish his sentence. Akaashi heard his voice, and he detached himself from Oikawa to immediately latch onto Suga. Suga almost fell to the floor when Akaashi dropped all his weight onto his shoulders.

“How much have you had to drink?” Suga said, his face turning away from Akaashi’s breath. 

“Just a couple,” Akaashi said.

Oikawa took one of Akaashi’s arms and wrapped it around his shoulders, helping to support some of the weight. They moved toward the door. 

“Should we tell Kuroo?” Suga asked. 

Oikawa looked back at the party, seeing Kuroo already walking over toward them. “I think he knows,” he said.

At the door, they sat Akaashi down at the edge of the genkan while they searched for their shoes in the pile. Kuroo showed up shortly after, their croquet mallets in his hands. “Figured you might want these,” he said.

Akaashi tilted his head back toward the sound of Kuroo’s voice, and Suga had to catch him to keep him from falling over. 

“Kuroooooooo,” Akaashi cooed. “I’m sorry.” His voice fell to a somber tone. Suga shot Oikawa a look, but Oikawa was just as clueless about what Akaashi would be _sorry_ for.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get you home, and I’ll help you with the massive hangover you are going to have tomorrow.” Kuroo crouched down and gave Akaashi a kiss on the forehead.

“Where do ya think yer going?”

They all turned back to see Suna and Kita walking toward the genkan.

“We’re taking Akaashi home,” Oikawa said. He finally found Akaashi’s shoes and started to put them on the other.

“Ya can’t leave yet. We put together the whole costume contest at _your_ behest. _You_ bothered Osamu and I for days until we agreed, and now yer leavin' before we announce the winner,” Suna said.

Oikawa felt bad, but his roommate’s well-being came first. It always did.

“I can take him home, you two stay,” Kuroo said. 

“There is no way you will be able to get Akaashi home on your own. Look at him,” Oikawa pointed to their drunken roommate. 

Akaashi’s head was resting on Suga’s shoulder with his eyes practically shut. Suga kept having to put his hand out keep Akaashi from falling forwards and backwards.

“I can help,” Kita said. “I was headin’ that way anyway.”

Oikawa glanced at Suga. Kuroo and Kita were two people they could trust, but a part of him still felt bad. Suga seemed to hold the same reservations.

“Stay,” Kuroo said, giving them permission again. “Kita and I will take Akaashi back, and I’ll make sure he gets to bed safely.”

Kuroo handed the yellow mallet off to Kita and gave the other two to Oikawa. He slipped on his shoes before lifting Akaashi up. The younger swayed in his arms, but Kuroo was able to hold him fairly still while they were not moving. Oikawa stepped back to give Kita room to find his own shoes. They watched as the two carried Akaashi out of the apartment.

“Wait... Doesn’t Kita live in this building,” Suga asked Suna.

“Yeah.”

“So why would he be walking near our place?”

“I don’t keep track of Kita’s life. Maybe he is meeting someone,” Suna answered before he walked away.

Oikawa and Suga agreed not to mention it to Akaashi. Sure he was dating Kuroo, but they both knew of the small crush on Kita that he had never gotten over. It was probably best not to tell him that the former Inarizaki captain could be hooking up with someone who lived nearby to them.

  
  
  


When Akaashi woke up, the afternoon sun was already low, painting his room in an orange glow. He buried his head back underneath his comforter. There was an ache in his chest that he knew was unrelated to the hangover. 

Akaashi rolled over, his arm reaching for another body. However, he was alone in his bed. He sat up, practically throwing the blanket off the bed. His eyes searching for something—anything—to tell him where Kuroo was.

He found a glass of water, two Advil, and a note sat next to his phone on the nightstand.

Akaashi, I had some errands to run. Sorry.

The note had no signature, but Akaashi recognized the handwriting as Kuroo’s. Akaashi reached for his phone. No new messages.

Something was off. The note felt distant, and it was odd that Kuroo hadn’t texted him all day. Kuroo was the type of person to text about his day even if Akaashi couldn’t reply. Moreover, he was someone who would’ve rearranged his schedule to take care of Akaashi.

Akaashi took the pills and laid back down. His thoughts drifted back on the night before, trying to piece together what could’ve happened. He remembered showing up, drinking a lot, and dancing. But there was a reason he had been drinking so much...

An image of a classmate resting their hand on Kita’s arm while they laughed popped into his head. 

Akaashi grabbed his pillow, placing it over his face while he let out a groan. He had been jealous and drank a lot, and then... Then Oikawa and Suga took him home. Akaashi clearly—or as clearly as he could—remembered Oikawa slipping on his shoes while his head was resting on Suga’s shoulder.

What he couldn’t remember is the walk home. Oikawa and Suga would almost always break out into song, and if they did, it was _always_ something Akaashi recalled even at his drunkest moments. However, Akaashi couldn’t remember them singing.

He remembered the smell of honey and rice, and he remembered confessing things he would have never...

No. No. No. Akaashi hoped that what he was remembering was just a dream.

He got up from his bed to find his roommates. The apartment was quiet as he made his way down the hall. When he found the living room, the kitchen, and Suga’s room all empty, there was only one place left to check.

Akaashi opened the door to Oikawa’s room to find his roommates on the bed. They were sleeping with their backs toward each other, a small space between them. Carefully, Akaashi crawled on top of the mattress and blankets. He pulled the comforter down enough to slip underneath. Then he curled up next to Suga, burying his head in the other’s back.

He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Next to him, Suga rolled over. He felt a thumb brush against his cheek, wiping away a tear he hadn’t realized had fallen.

“Akaashi?”

“Who took me home last night?”

Suga said the one answer Akaashi did not want to hear. “Kuroo and Kita... Why?”

Akaashi cried into Suga’s chest. It was all real; it had to have been. While being walked home, he had leaned on Kita and told him how pretty he was. He had talked about how everyone—including himself—wanted to kiss him... And the entire time Kuroo had been right next to him. It was cruel, and Akaashi hated himself.

“I think I messed up..." he whispered. 

Suga wrapped his arms around Akaashi and pulled him in. He peppered light kisses into his hair, repeating over and over, “It’s okay. It’ll be okay.” Akaashi wasn’t sure if either of them actually believed that.

A hand rubbed his back, and given that Suga’s were currently running through his hair, it had to have come from Oikawa. He cried harder.

His roommates didn’t ask him what had happened or attempt to problem-solve. They just held him, speaking softly as a reminder they were there and not going anywhere. Akaashi knew he would eventually tell them, but he couldn’t even form the words. 

Whatever the damage, he knew Oikawa and Suga would be by his side to help him through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about kuroaka. This is a long stories, so not all relationships that make their way into the story as subplots are going to last. And a few of you probably already know what my end game for each setter is.


	7. Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi, Suga, and Oikawa sneak into a planetarium. When they almost get caught, they realized they need a different way to look at the stars.
> 
> A few brief mentions of a break up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am trying to get these out weekly, so I apologize for the varying qualities of each chapter. There is just so much to tell and 42 chapters didn't feel like a lot until I remembered a year is 52 weeks 😭

Akaashi glanced into the night. The campus was quiet—the only sound being the buzz of the lamps dimly lighting the walkways. In front of him, Suga worked to find the keys he placed in his pocket before they’d left the apartment.

After a minute, Suga produced a ring of keys with a quiet _ah-ha_. He selected one conveniently labeled ‘side door’ and turned it over in the lock. 

“Do I even want to know where you got those keys?” Oikawa asked. His eyes were glued to the path, watching to make sure no one was coming.

“I didn’t steal them, if that is what you are asking me,” Suga said with a mischievous grin as he opened the door.

“You flirted with a student employee, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question since Akaashi knew that to be the most likely answer. 

Suga only further confirmed this to be the case when he smiled wider. He pulled the two of them inside. 

Akaashi had never been to the planetarium before, but he imagined it looked different with the lights on. Large spheres loomed in the shadows, and he assumed they were most likely a part of a solar system display. Whatever the dark hid, it spanned the entirety of the room they had entered. 

They took each other in hand, and Suga led them through the building with the small light provided by his phone. When they came to another door, Suga unlocked it. Then they entered the mid-sized auditorium.

Akaashi ventured down the center aisle while his roommates inspected the projector and other equipment. 

“Do you know how this thing works?” Suga asked.

“I can figure it out,” Oikawa said as he swatted Suga’s hand away. “Just go sit down.”

Oikawa fidgeted with the computer, turning on the display. A galaxy of stars appeared above them on the ceiling. From the speakers came documentary-style music and a deep, narrator voice.

“ _Shhhhhhh_ ,” the other two ordered while Oikawa searched for the volume. 

They all stilled. It had only been a few seconds of noise, but they felt a need to listen and make sure they were still alone. When no one came to yell at them, they let out a collective sigh.

Suga crossed the auditorium to lay down in the open space at the front, gesturing for Akaashi to join him. 

“I am not getting on the floor. Do you know how dirty it probably is?”

The protest was ignored, and Oikawa grabbed Akaashi’s arm as he passed him, tugging him to the front. “Don’t be a baby, Aka-chan. The experience is better this way.”

Akaashi rolled his eyes but ultimately got to the floor with the other two.

Because they had turned off the audio, Oikawa provided his own narration to the stars moving above them. He discussed the different constellations and the stories behind them; various facts about space that he learned in class; and which galaxies were his favorite and why.

Suga and Akaashi had no idea what he was talking about half of the time, but they enjoyed listening anyway. Oikawa always got excited when he ranted about space, and both Suga and Akaashi thought there was no greater joy than a friend sharing their passion with you.

After the sequence ran through once, it looped over again. This time they watched it quietly—just taking in the view.

“I wish we could do this all the time,” Oikawa whispered.

The door opened to the auditorium, and a light scanned for intruders. Although they were unable to see who had entered from where they lay, they knew it was trouble.

“Who’s in here?” a voice called out.

They scurried from the floor and hid behind the seats. Akaashi peeked over the top to see a security guard searching the room. It was only a matter of time before he made his way to the three of them.

Akaashi and Oikawa looked to Suga for guidance because when things went wrong, Suga was usually the one to think of a way out. 

Suga looked around quickly. His eyes briefly pausing before he turned back to his roommates. “Run,” he said.

He sprinted off toward the emergency exit. The other two were close behind. They didn’t bother to turn back and look as the security guard ran after them. Their laughter mocked the man as they got further away.

  
  
  


Their lungs burned. Even out of breath, they kept laughing past the point of their sides aching. They ran, adrenaline carrying them as far away from the planetarium as they could get. The security guard had most likely stopped chasing them when they had officially left campus, but they didn’t bother to look back and check. 

Suga grabbed Akaashi’s arm to pull them down a side street, and Akaashi reached out to latch onto Oikawa’s sleeve to bring him along. They slowed to a stop, bending over to catch their breaths.

“That... We... Close...” Akaashi huffed out between laughing and breathing. All the other two could do was nod. 

When they heard a noise from the main street, they froze, holding their breaths like it would make them invisible. A cardboard box fell out of a nearby dumpster followed by a stray cat. The three burst into laughter again, sending the cat running across the street.

“Think we’re safe?” Akaashi asked, turning back to face his roommates.

Suga shrugged. “I’d say probably. I don’t think they’d follow us this far off campus.”

“Oh my gods...”

Akaashi and Suga faced Oikawa. His expression was filled with horror; he covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes wide and staring off into the distance. The adrenaline seemed to have worn out and he was realizing everything that happened just a few minutes before.

“If we would have been caught, I could have been kicked off the volleyball team,” he whispered into the night. 

“But we didn’t get caught, so it’s all good!” Suga patted Oikawa’s shoulder. He looked at the other with a giant grin—completely unphased by their encounter with the security guard.

“We are never doing that again! Understood?” Oikawa stared at the other two while they nodded. They weren’t going to argue with Oikawa; after all, he did have the most to lose if they were caught.

Suga locked arms with his roommates, pulling them in closer. “Let’s just go home,” he said.

They walked back to the apartment arm in arm. Akaashi listened to his roommates tease each other while he looked up. Unlike the planetarium ceiling, there wasn’t much to see in the night sky. There were no stars visible—just the faint glow of city lights in the clouds and the moon. 

Akaashi had never really thought about it before: the fact that stars weren’t visible in the city. Since he had grown up in Tokyo, the only time he remembered stargazing was on a school camping trip years ago. 

“What are you looking at Akaashi?” Suga asked. When Akaashi turned his head towards Suga, the other was already looking up just as he had been a moment before. 

“I was just looking at the sky and thinking about how you can’t see the stars in Tokyo,” he answered. 

All three held their heads upward. “Wow, I’ve never really thought about it before, but you really don’t see anything,” Oikawa said.

Akaashi thought maybe they could take a weekend trip to stargaze in the countryside. However, it would have to wait until after the Intercollegiate Championship as Oikawa was far too busy right now. It was a shame they couldn’t just look at the stars from their apartment.

  
  
  


Oikawa set the ball toward Bokuto. The toss was good—close to perfect. It was in the spot that gave Bokuto the most options on where to hit it. However, they were not in sync. Bokuto was slower to jump up than Oikawa had anticipated, which caused the spiker to have to hit the ball with his left hand. 

The spike was easily blocked by Suna and their captain, ending the practice match between the teammates.

“Alright, laps for the losing team,” the captain shouted.

They all groaned as they fell into a group to run around the gym. Hoping to give himself some time to think over the practice game, Oikawa fell to the back of the group with a light jog. His solitude was interrupted when Yaku and Sakusa caged him in.

“Why is Bokuto practically ignoring your presence?” Yaku asked.

Oikawa hadn’t thought about Bokuto’s attitude. He wasn’t one to particularly dwell on how people interacted—or didn’t interact—with him. However, now that Yaku mentioned it, he realized the spiker had been ignoring him all practice.

When Oikawa didn’t respond right away, Sakusa followed up with another question. “Did you do something?” 

“No..." Oikawa said. “But you know how Bokuto’s moods can be. Who knows what can trigger them.”

Yaku shook his head. He stared forward to Bokuto, who was running a ways ahead of the group. “This seems different though. Are you sure you didn’t do anything?”

“I don’t see what I could have done. It’s not like we talk much outside of practice or..." Oikawa’s voice trailed off.

He realized there had been one major event between their last practice and today—and that was the fact Akaashi and Kuroo had broken up. It hadn’t been a huge surprise since the two were avoiding each other after the Halloween party. However, the actual split was far from pretty. 

Oikawa was away at a practice match when it happened, and upon arriving home, he found Suga in the living room with Akaashi asleep on his lap. Akaashi refused to leave the apartment the next few days. He would probably still be wrapped in a blanket on their couch right now if not for Suga forcing him to join in on their Sunday shenanigans when they snuck into the planetarium.

“What is it?” Yaku questioned. 

“Akaashi and Kuroo broke up last week,” Oikawa explained. 

“Fuck,” the other two said in unison. 

They all knew Kuroo was Bokuto’s best friend and that Bokuto was very empathetic. Therefore, when his friends were down, he would feel down. And if his friends couldn’t stand to be around another person, then he couldn’t either. The messy break between Akaashi and Kuroo meant that Bokuto was not happy with Akaashi and, by extension, Oikawa.

They all hoped he would get over it by the start of the championships.

  
  
  


Suga was sitting on the couch scrolling through his social media feeds when Oikawa flopped down on top of him. The setter’s head was buried in his lap as he let out an exasperated sigh. 

“You doing okay there babe?” Suga asked. Without looking away from his phone, he brought a hand down to thread through Oikawa’s hair. 

Oikawa rolled over so he could look up at Suga. “Is Akaashi home?”

Suga set down his phone. “No... He mentioned he was going to catch up on some studying at the library tonight, but I think he’ll be home soon.” He saw the gears turning in Oikawa’s head with the way the other’s brows furrowed.

Oikawa was fidgeting with his fingers, staring off into the corner. His mouth opened as if he were about to talk, but then he quickly shut it again.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Bokuto’s not talking to me because Kuroo and Akaashi broke up. And that wouldn’t be a big issue except it is affecting our ability to play volleyball together, or I guess rather his ability. My sets are still flawless-”

“Jar.”

Oikawa pulled some money from his pocket and handed Suga as he continued. “But you know how Bokuto can get. His emotions can _really_ affect his gameplay, and right now he is taking his anger out on me, even though _I_ didn’t do anything. We lost every practice set we were teamed up for. I’ve never had to run so many penalty laps during practice before.”

Suga realized Oikawa probably just wanted to rant about it. However, he also knew his friend well enough to know that he would overanalyze the situation to the point where it could screw up his own game. Oikawa wasn’t one to care what other people thought of him, unless it affected the truest love in his life, volleyball.

“Have you talked to Bokuto about this?”

“No! That’s a terrible idea. What if it makes it worse?”

Suga rolled his eyes and shoved Oikawa off his lap, causing him to fall to the ground.

“What the hell was that for?” Oikawa picked himself up to kneel next to the couch.

“It was to get your attention so you’d listen,” Suga said. He reached out and grabbed Oikawa’s chin so he had to meet his eyes. “We both know that you _should_ talk to Bokuto before it gets worse, but you won’t. So if you aren’t actually going to try and fix it, then stop thinking about it. You’ll only make things worse for your team when you also end up in a funk because of this.”

“Fine,” Oikawa said through his teeth, easily pulling his head from Suga’s grasp.

Their conversation ended there. The apartment door opened and Akaashi called out that he’d brought home sushi. With the mention of food, the other two forgot whatever argument they were on the verge of having.

The evening quickly devolved to them eating on the couch and deciding on what movie to watch.

“We are not watching Alien vs. Predator again,” Akaashi stated.

“And I don’t want to watch Pride and Prejudice _again_ ,” Oikawa retorted. 

The two glared at each other. Suga knew they would have started fighting if not for the fact he was sitting between them. He also knew that their anger was not at each other. They were both stressed and ignoring what was _really_ on their minds.

“How about Pacific Rim?” Suga suggested since it was one of the only movies they all seemed to enjoy.

Unlike other movie nights, none of them had much commentary as they watched the film. Oikawa ended up resting his head on Suga’s shoulder while Akaashi draped his legs over their laps. But even though they were quiet, they weren’t really relaxed.

Suga thought about their adventure to the planetarium. He remembered the smiles that adorned his friends' faces as they forgot about the outside world while they stared at the stars...

He wondered if there was a way to escape into their own world under the stars whenever they wanted without ever having to leave their apartment.

  
  
  


Akaashi and Suga were watching Oikawa’s match from their living room. It was the first game of the intercollegiate tournament, and the team was already struggling. 

In the first set, Bokuto kept getting blocked by the other team and was eventually benched. However, without the spiker’s fire power, they didn’t stand a chance. They ended up losing the set. 

The second set had Bokuto back in the rotation, but it wasn’t going much better.

“What is with Bokuto today?” Akaashi was partially just commenting on the wing spiker’s performance, but he was a little curious. 

He looked at Suga. Unlike other viewers, they had someone who played on the team. Therefore, it was likely that Suga knew something about why Bokuto and Oikawa were having such difficulty syncing up.

“I don’t know... He can just be unpredictable in his moods,” Suga answered. He didn’t bother to look away from the TV.

Akaashi knew Bokuto had his moods, but this looked different. He wasn't hanging his head low the way he normally did. There was something else behind every step, every jump. Everything felt more hostile than sad. He wouldn't even look at Oikawa, and there seemed to be a second of hesitation before he hit Oikawa's tosses.

“He’s angry at Oikawa. Why would he be angry at Oikawa?” Akaashi didn’t let up as he stared at Suga.

Suga shrugged. “Maybe Oikawa made fun of his hair at practice.”

Although Suga was a good liar, Akaashi knew him well enough to understand when he was talking around something. However, he wasn’t expecting Suga to cave. He wasn’t Oikawa. Suga would lie until he was dead if need be.

Thus, Akaashi analyzed the situation by himself. 

He knew Bokuto was angry, and that the anger was being directed at Oikawa. The two argued plenty during practice before, and it never affected Bokuto’s gameplay to this extent. And it wasn't like Bokuto was a person Oikawa hung out with much outside of practice. Except for...

“Fuck,” Akaashi whispered.

“Jar?”

He ignored the order. It didn’t seem important at that moment. “Bokuto isn’t angry at Oikawa. He is angry at me,” he whispered. 

Akaashi didn’t need to say anymore out loud. The silence from Suga confirmed his suspicions.

  
  
  


Bokuto spiked the ball into the block with a disheartening thud. Oikawa reached out even though he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get underneath it, but his body moved of its own volition. He watched it hit the ground and bounce off the court. 

Oikawa felt the spirits of his teammates drop. They lost the first set and were already falling behind in this one. If they couldn’t win, their hopes of making it to the finals would be over. He knew he needed to do something because they couldn’t succeed without Bokuto.

He realized their current situation was partially his fault since he had avoided dealing with the _problem_ all week. Oikawa caught the eyes of their team captain, who then looked to their coach. The whistle blew for a timeout.

They had barely huddled by the bench when Oikawa confronted his teammate.

“Bokuto, you need to stop taking your anger out on me.” 

The entire team paused when Oikawa addressed the wing spiker, a collective inhale before they all held their breaths. Oikawa was no longer being kind. Gone was the flirty, playful way he usually spoke to his teammates. He was tired, and Bokuto needed to hear this.

“I did nothing to Kuroo, and even if I had, this is a professional space. You leave that shit on the sidelines when you walk out onto that court. I don’t care how you feel about Akaashi and what happened between him and Kuroo. 

“If you want to stay out on that court, you will put it aside and play volleyball. In this space, we are teammates. You can trust that I won’t let personal feelings affect how I utilize your skills, and _I_ need to trust that you will not let outside life affect your performance.”

Bokuto’s eyes were wide, and he nodded his head slowly. He had never been lectured by Oikawa before. In fact, Oikawa never had to resort to such a straight-forward confrontation with any of his teammates. 

Everyone stood around, a mixture of shock and awe on their faces. Their coach attempted to keep his face expressionless, but a proud smile crept up at the corner of his mouth. 

“I need to hear you say it, Bokuto.”

The wing spiker clenched and unclenched his fists. He took a deep breath before he whispered, “I’ll leave it on the sidelines.”

“What was that?” Oikawa put his hand to his ear, the playful, cocky cadence returning to his voice.

“It stays on the sidelines!”

The whistle blew for them to return to the court. Oikawa bowed to apologize to their team captain for using the entire timeout. 

When the game resumed, gone was Bokuto’s grim demeanor. The change in mood helped to throw the other team off, and they started to score more points. In the end, they were able to win the second set. However, the battle wasn’t over. 

Both sides of the net were tired. Both teams wanted to win. And they were all ready to give it everything they had. This last set determined who would be moving forward. 

  
  
  


Their college won the game, but it wasn’t without some difficulty. The final set went past thirty points, and when the game point was made, the entire team collapsed. From the brief glimpse of Oikawa’s face, Suga knew he was going to be exhausted.

During Oikawa’s first serve, Akaashi grabbed onto his hand, squeezing it every time a point was scored throughout the set. Now the game was over and the other was holding on even tighter. 

“Akaashi, he won. It’s okay,” Suga said, ruffling his free hand through Akaashi’s hair.

The younger let go with a quiet apology. His eyes stayed focused on the screen as the announcers talked about the other games of the day. 

“Suga..." Akaashi whispered, his voice distracted.

“Hmm?”

“I’m not wrong in thinking Oikawa is going to be in his head after a game like that, right?”

“Yeah… We should probably do something to help take his mind off things.” 

Suga was about to ask if Akaashi had any ideas, but then the other got up from the couch without a word and disappeared down the hall. 

Akaashi’s bedroom door opened and closed. Suga listened to Akaashi’s steps as he returned to the living room. The younger set a few bags onto an open couch cushion.

Suga picked up one. “Are these glow-in-the-dark stars?”

“Yeah.”

“This is too funny,” Suga said to himself, chuckling. Then he went to his room and came back with a few more bags of glow-in-the-dark stars. Akaashi started to laugh as well. 

“I figured we could put them up on the ceiling,” Akaashi said.

“Same, and I figured we could match them to what we would actually see in the night sky.”

Since neither of them knew much about constellations, they searched the internet for a map. It was easy to find a website that allowed them to type in a location and simulate the night sky. Both of them were expecting a simple image with a static map of the stars. However, when the page loaded with Tokyo coordinates, it displayed a timelapse.

“Did you know stars moved across the night sky at night?” Suga dragged the slider on the display, shifting the time and constellation positions in the frame.

“It sounds vaguely familiar, and it also makes sense considering the Earth rotates,” Akaashi remarked.

Suga turned back to his roommate, sticking out his tongue. 

“Just choose midnight as the time,” Akaashi said.

Suga paused the frame at the suggested time. Then he asked, “Do we just keep referring back to this as we place the stars on the ceiling?”

“That would be far too difficult.”

Since they didn’t own a printer, Suga wasn’t sure what else they could do. However, Akaashi seemed to have a plan. He reached into his backpack; grabbed a sheet of paper; and traced the constellations. 

“You have some construction paper right?” Akaashi asked.

“Of course.”

“Grab me a black sheet.”

Suga returned with the requested sheet of paper, and Akaashi used his drawn map to poke holes into it. Next, he placed their phones underneath the paper with the flashlights on in the center of the room. When he shut off the main lights, the ceiling became the star map.

“You’re a genius!” Suga kissed Akaashi on the cheek.

Neither was sure when Oikawa would be getting back, so they moved quickly. Although it wasn’t the safest option, they stood on the stools from their kitchen to place the stars. Each of them worked on one half of the room, and when they finished with the major constellation, they placed smaller stars randomly throughout.

When it was all done, they flipped the lights back on.

“We still have a lot of stars left,” Akaashi pointed out.

Suga looked at the pile. He went through the options of where to put them in his head until he came to a conclusion. “We should place them in Oikawa’s room.”

He grabbed one of the leftover bags and then went to grab the map from the middle of the room.

“Wait, if we set up his room using this map, it’s going to be the same constellations as the ones in here,” Akaashi remarked.

“Very good point.”

Suga thought about it for a moment. If they couldn’t use Tokyo as their location, then they would have to choose a different one. He vaguely remembered Oikawa telling them that there was a difference between the northern and southern hemispheres. Therefore, if they were going to choose another spot, it would have to be in the southern hemisphere...

“I think I’ve got it,” Suga said. His face lit in a smile. 

  
  
  


Oikawa set his bag down at the edge of the genkan and slipped off his shoes. He was ready to take a shower, eat a little dinner, and then retire to his room to watch the match of the team they’d be facing tomorrow. Deep down he knew it wasn’t the most productive plan considering how worn out he was already. 

His phone pinged. Pulling it out of his pocket, it lit up to reveal a message from Iwaizumi: You better be asleep in two hours or I’m going to have Suga beat your ass

“Fuck you, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa muttered to himself. He hated how his best friend knew him so well.

When Oikawa fully entered the apartment, the first thing he noticed was that every single light was on, yet his roommates were nowhere to be seen.

He sighed and walked over to the switch. “Why are all the lights on? Our energy bill is coming out of your jars this month!” he shouted. His hand moved to flip the lights off.

“NOOO!” Suga shouted, running down the hall. “Don’t turn that off yet.”

“Huh?”

Suga grabbed Oikawa’s hand and pulled it away from the wall. He dragged the setter toward the center of the living room. His lips were pulled into a sweet smile that was not to be trusted.

“What’s going on?” Oikawa asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Don’t be so suspicious. We’re just setting up a surprise to celebrate your win,” Suga said.

Oikawa opened his mouth to say something; however, he didn’t get to because Akaashi walked into the room. He was much calmer than Suga, his expression cool as he looked at the two of them. He nodded at Suga.

“Close your eyes,” Suga ordered. Oikawa thought about denying the request, but Suga stared him down. He did as he was told. “Now lie on the floor, but keep your eyes close.” Suga guided him to the ground. 

Oikawa heard his roommates scurry across the living room floor. Each pause in their footsteps was met with a quiet click as they switched off the lights. Then he sensed Suga lie down next to him. Akaashi joined them soon after, and the two of them took his hands in theirs.

“You can open your eyes now,” Akaashi said. 

Oikawa opened his eyes to see the ceiling painted in glow-in-the-dark stars. At first, he thought them to be placed rather randomly. The tiny stars scattered around. Then he noticed _Ursa Minor_ made from the large and medium stars. His eyes followed that to the other constellation: _Ursa Major, Draco, Hercules…_

“We know it’s pretty low quality compared to a planetarium-” Akaashi started, but he paused when Oikawa squeezed his hand.

“It’s perfect.” He felt small, happy tears well at the corners of his eyes. 

“Wait, there’s more,” Suga said and pulled the other two up off the ground. 

They followed the dim light from a series of stars placed along the hall ceiling to Oikawa’s bedroom door. Oikawa wasn’t requested to close his eyes again. His roommates simply opened his bedroom door to reveal more stars. 

Oikawa walked to the center of and looked up. 

“We had a lot of stars leftover, so we decided we should decorate another room,” Suga explained.

“We only chose your room because you have the largest bed,” Akaashi added. Oikawa could hear the lie in his voice, but he let it go.

The stars above him now were placed differently than the ones in the living room—different constellations. “This is the southern hemisphere sky,” Oikawa said to his roommates while pointing up at the ceiling.

They nodded. 

“We figured it might be boring if both rooms had the same stars, so we entered a different location into the website. Not that it probably mattered what city we entered as long as it was south of the equator, but..." Suga’s voice fell to a whisper. 

“What location did you use?” 

“San Juan, Argentina.” 

Oikawa jerked his head down to look at Suga. 

He figured Akaashi didn’t quite realize the significance of the location. It wasn’t a story that he told many people. He wasn’t sure why. In many ways, Oikawa was an open book, but how he fell in love with volleyball always felt exceptionally personal.

Suga heard the story a couple of years ago when they ran into each other at a party after the Spring Interhigh. It had been a part of a drunken conversation that had solidified their friendship. He was honestly surprised Suga even remembered it, considering how much they drank that evening.

After Oikawa took a quick shower, they settled back into the living room. Suga and Akaashi presented a feast of leftovers that they ate in the dark under the dim glow of the stars. It felt like so many other nights they spent together.

Outside worries and stress disappeared because the world started and ended with their laughter and smiles. 

When they finished eating, they retired to their own bedrooms. However, it wasn’t long before Suga snuck his way into Oikawa’s bed with Akaashi following just a few minutes later. The two of them fell asleep quickly—curled up on either side of him. 

Any fears or anxieties about his upcoming games didn’t even have a chance to form, and the last thing Oikawa saw before he closed his eyes for the night were the stars above his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, hi.. we are 1/6 of the way through the pretty setter story. Pretty hard to believe.. anyway, please feel free to scream at me in the comments or on twitter about these three and this little world we're creating


	8. Klepto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi reveals to his roommates that he has a small habit of shoplifting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be under 3K... but here we are with a 5.7K chapter... I-

Akaashi walked through the aisles. Somewhere nearby, he heard his roommates _passionately_ discussing what face masks to get. Their voices filled the surrounding area, drawing the attention of the others in the shop. 

Alone, Akaashi trailed his fingers along the various products on the shelves. It would be easy for him to slip something into his pocket—to hide it up his sleeve. The store employees weren’t paying attention to him... Customers didn’t seem to even notice him... 

He sighed, tucking his hand back into his pocket. It wasn’t worth it. There was nothing he wanted in the aisle he was currently strolling down. 

“Aka-chan!”

Akaashi spun around to see Oikawa standing at the end of the row of miscellaneous items—the setter’s arms placed firmly on his hips. Instead of a verbal reply, Akaashi raised his eyebrows, giving Oikawa that _what-do-you-want_ look.

“We need your help choosing the nail polish,” Oikawa said. Then he turned to walk back in the direction he had come from.

Akaashi followed Oikawa to the beauty section, where he and Suga already had a small basket filled with face masks at their feet. There were definitely more masks than they could use in one evening, and Akaashi figured they were stocking up for break too.

“So what’s the dilemma?” he asked.

“Well, since we’re celebrating you finishing your first year of college, it seemed only natural that you pick out what colors we get,” Suga informed him. As Akaashi looked over the rows of nail polish, Suga added, “You have to pick from this row though.”

The row Suga pointed to was filled with cheap nail polish, whose consistency looked like it would clump easily. 

“Why those?”

Oikawa's hand circled in the air and he rolled his eyes. “Because we are poor and nail polish is expensive,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“So you can justify buying all those masks, but not more expensive nail polish?”

Akaashi wasn’t _truly_ complaining. He just wanted to know his roommates’ reasoning. It seemed like if they were willing to invest in face masks, then they should be willing to invest in nail polish that wouldn’t go bad after one or two uses.

The other two looked down at the basket. When Oikawa couldn’t come up with a reply, Suga answered for him, hanging off the setter’s shoulder with a smug grin. 

“Well these are a necessity.”—he pointed to the basket—“Also, nail polish is wildly overpriced, so even the cheap stuff is a lot.”

Akaashi didn’t question them anymore. He chose two colors: an emerald and a wine red. Satisfied, his roommates picked the basket from the ground and moved toward the registers. However, Akaashi didn’t follow them right away. 

It wouldn’t hurt to take just a couple of bottles from the fancier selection. After all—like Suga had said—nail polish was overpriced. There would be enough profit from the items customers actually bought to make up for the losses. 

“Akaashi, are you coming?” Suga asked.

The two had paused a meter or so in front of Akaashi, waiting.

“Yeah, of course.”

Akaashi’s fingers grazed over the polish, slipping a couple into his sleeve. The action would only be noticeable if someone had been watching for it, but no one ever was.

  
  
  


The three of them sat around their living room. Oikawa was lying down on the couch with a sheet mask placed on his face—his fingers dancing in the air while he hummed the chorus to a song that was stuck in his head. And Suga and Akaashi were on the ground, eating the various take-out and snacks they had picked up on their way home.

Suga grabbed a Pocky stick from the container and held it up to his mouth like a microphone. “Now that you’ve survived your first year of college, Akaashi Keiji, what are you going to do next?” he asked in his best TV voice. 

He extended the Pocky out toward Akaashi. The younger rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face gave away that he enjoyed the silliness. 

“I’m going to Disneyland,” Akaashi said. Then he chomped off a large bite of the ‘mic.’

Suga started laughing and Akaashi joined in soon after. They threw their heads back to rest on the couch behind them. 

“We should actually go to Disneyland,” Oikawa said, pulling the mask from his face and sitting up. With a nearby towel, he patted down the extra residue. 

“Isn’t that a little cliché?” Akaashi asked.

“Something being cliché doesn’t make it less fun, _Aka-chan_.” Oikawa slipped off the couch to sit between the other two. 

The setter reached in front of them and grabbed the small bag filled with nail polish. He dumped it out onto the ground, looking through the colors. His fingers settled over a gold. However, when he opened it, the polish was crusted over.

“Ugh!” Oikawa closed the bottle and threw it across the room.

“Someone’s grumpy,” Suga cooed, poking Oikawa in the cheek. Oikawa grabbed at his finger and pulled it forward. An action that caused him to lose his balance, and he fell forward so that his forehead was pressed up against Oikawa’s.

The closeness wasn’t anything foreign between them, and if anything it seemed to comfort Oikawa. His scowl turned to only a slight frown as he said, “I just wanted to wear a little gold. You know, to be all forward-thinking.”

Suga kissed him on the nose. Oikawa was expressing a moment of vulnerability, and Suga knew well enough that a joke would be ill-timed. He hoped the little act of affection would embody the things he wasn’t sure he had the words for.

“You could use this...”

The two turned their heads to look at Akaashi’s held-out hand. In his palm were two nail polish bottles. One was a shimmering blue that reminded Suga of the ocean alit with bioluminescence and the other was a rich gold.

“Akaashi, where did you get those?” Suga asked.

“The store.”

“We didn’t see you buy anything...” Suga clearly remembered Akaashi standing silently behind them while they checked out. Unless, he had bought them previously, but Suga assumed he would have mentioned that when they were choosing nail polish just a couple of hours earlier.

Akaashi smiled at his roommates, his eyes filled with a bit of mischief. “I think saying I _picked them up_ from the store would be more accurate.”

Oikawa slammed his hands to the floor. “Oh my gods! Did you steal those?”

“Is this like a rich kid rebellion thing?” Suga asked.

Akaashi scowled at his roommates, closing his hand and pulling the nail polish back toward himself. “If you don’t want them..."

“NO!” Suga and Oikawa both reached out toward Akaashi. “We want them!”

The younger smiled as he handed over the gold bottle, and Suga got to work delicately painting Oikawa’s nails. He covered each nail perfectly in two strokes, moving finger by finger. 

“So, do you steal often?” Oikawa asked. He inspected his newly painted fingers, a mixture of excitement and guilt on his face.

Akaashi shrugged. “ _I_ wouldn’t say I do it a lot...”

Suga looked over at him. He heard the non-answer in Akaashi’s reply. The emphasis left the response open for interpretation. Akaashi may be good at avoidance, but so was Suga. Therefore, he recognized the subtle tactics.

However, Suga also knew he would sometimes steal a little bit of money from the wallets of the men he brought home when they were assholes, so who was he to judge?

  
  
  


Oikawa slipped off his running shoes and jogged into the kitchen, singing along to the pop song blaring in his earphones. He did a little hop-shuffle dance as he reached into the cupboard for a glass, which he promptly filled with cold water. Taking a sip, he spun around.

To his surprise, he wasn’t alone. Oikawa almost spat out his water when he made eye contact with the burly man standing in their kitchen without a shirt on. The man moved his mouth, but Oikawa couldn’t hear him over his music.

“Huh?” he said, pulling his earphones off.

“Oh- I... uh... just need to grab my shirt,” the man pointed to the kitchen floor where a white t-shirt lay. 

Oikawa leaned back on the counter and gestured for the man to collect his things. He sipped from his glass while he watched the guy scuttle around the apartment and pick up his clothing and put them on before he left.

Alone again, Oikawa prepared his morning coffee, making sure to make extra for his roommates who were bound to appear soon.

Suga came to the kitchen first, looking rather disheveled, but overall he was awake. He wore a large sweater that hung off his shoulder. A series of markings littered his neck and collarbone. It was clear that the morning stranger belonged to him.

Oikawa felt rather annoyed. He knew they were currently on break, but it still felt odd for Suga to have someone over during the week. On the weekends, Oikawa expected to bump into one of Suga’s lovers as they scurried out in the morning. 

Obviously, he thought Suga could do what he wanted, and he didn’t really care as long as his friend stayed safe. However, he did like to have a heads up so he wasn’t caught dancing like an idiot in the kitchen.

“You seem to have had quite an eventful evening,” Oikawa said as he passed coffee over their island to where Suga sat. 

Suga shot him a sweet smile before he brought the mug up to his lips to take a small sip, testing the temperature of the coffee. “I would give him a solid eight. He wasn’t that great last night, but he made up for it this morning.” 

His smirk made Oikawa want to punch him in the face, but he opted to just roll his eyes instead. (After all, he didn’t even know why the statement annoyed him so much.)

“Be happy you were on a run,” Akaashi said as he sat down next to Suga. When Suga gave him a toothy grin, the younger grabbed the mug from his hands and began to drink the coffee. After a long sigh, he whispered to himself, “I miss Iwaizumi’s coffee.”

“If you are going to be a brat about it, I won’t make coffee for you at all,” Oikawa said while he poured a new mug for Suga.

“No! I mean this is still really good, but Iwaizumi’s coffee was just _really really_ good.”

“Well Iwa-chan only visits like once a year, so you’re going to have to wait a while,” he replied before returning his attention to Suga. “You were rather quiet last night, considering... _all that_.” Oikawa gestured to Suga’s entire appearance.

“Yeah, he seemed a little shy last night, but I remedied that this morning.” With that comment, Akaashi rolled his eyes, muttering something that Oikawa didn’t quite catch.

“Not that I’m judging, but how many guys does that make for this month?”

“That sounds like you’re judging,” Akaashi commented. The remark earned him a scowl from Oikawa.

“I’m not!”

Suga looked toward the far corner of the room. He counted on his fingers while mouthing silently to himself. “I think six... no... eight in total, but only six that I’ve brought back here.”

“Who were the other two?” Akaashi asked.

“A couple-”

“It doesn’t matter,” Oikawa interrupted. “My point is that every person you bring home is new. I bet you couldn’t last a week without bringing a stranger home.”

“Technically, they are not strangers. I usually remember their names. Though sometimes I just call them-” 

Akaashi threw his hand up to cover Suga’s mouth. “Please, I do not need a reminder.”

Even with his mouth covered, Oikawa knew that Suga was giving Akaashi a shit-eating grin. 

Suga removed Akaashi’s hand; then he looked at Oikawa. “Let’s make a bet. If I don’t bring home anyone _new_ for an entire week, then you have to do what I say for an entire month.”

“How is that even fair?”

“Okay. How about this, for every day I don’t bring home someone new, that adds a day where you will be under my servitude,” Suga proposed.

“Deal, but if you don’t last a week, the whole thing is void.”

“Fine.”

“You’re going to regret that,” Akaashi muttered.

Oikawa didn’t know why he would regret the bet. Suga couldn’t go that long without sex, so he would be bringing people back to their apartment in no time.

  
  
  


Suga walked side by side with his roommates as they made their way through the market. Oikawa was talking about the movie they had just watched, but he wasn’t listening. At some point, his mind drifted to which _non-new_ man he wanted to invite over.

**Koushi Confessions 🙊** @koushi_confessions  
To the beefy man who reads Keats in the courtyard, and went home with me last Wednesday. DM me if you want to have fun tonight

🗨️  ⟲  ♡ 

It wasn’t easy to fit a detailed-enough description within 140 characters, but Suga managed. He watched as the retweets, comments, and likes rolled in. The account had grown considerably since Akaashi had set it up, and it only took a few minutes before user @ito_workouts messaged him. 

He had never been more thankful for the internet than at that moment. He replied quickly: meet me outside the main university library at 8p tonight.

“Oikawa is going to see that,” Akaashi whispered to him, looking over his shoulder at the phone screen. 

Suga glanced briefly at their roommate. Oikawa was still chatting animatedly, oblivious to the side conversation between the other two. When he turned back to Akaashi, he placed his hand over his chest, pretending to have been stabbed. 

“Akaashi, I’m hurt. You think I haven’t already taken Oikawa’s phone and muted this account on his Twitter feed.”

“I’m sorry for underestimating you,” Akaashi said.

“Are you two even listening to me?” Oikawa asked.

The other two turned to look at him. “Of course we are,” Suga said.

“Then what did I just ask?”

Suga had no idea what Oikawa asked since he zoned out several minutes earlier. It was obvious Akaashi was just as clueless with the look he gave Suga.

“We’re just thinking about our answers, it’s a very important question.”

“How is ‘ _would you stab your best friend in the leg for 100 million yen?_ ’ an important question?”

Suga shot Akaashi a brief smile. Sometimes it was too easy to manipulate Oikawa, and Suga thought about how the setter should be very grateful he only used this knowledge for harmless things—like getting him to repeat a question. 

“Would you want us to just decide without giving it ample thought?” Akaashi asked.

“No...”

Suga knew that Oikawa would probably not want to be stabbed since he was an athlete. Even ¥100 million would not be worth risking his career. However, Suga wasn’t an athlete anymore, and that hypothetical amount of money would be great to have.

“I’ve got it!” Suga shouted a little too loudly, several people stopping to look at them. “You stab me, my leg heals, and then we buy a really nice house.”

“You can stab me too, and then we get double the money,” Akaashi added.

“That’s genius!”

Oikawa looked at them in disbelief. “You two would let me stab you in the leg for 100 million yen each?”

“Why not,” Akaashi said. “We aren’t athletes anymore, so it won’t throw off our career plans at all.”

“But it would hurt!”

“But the money,” Suga and Akaashi said together.

It was clear Oikawa could not fathom being stabbed in the leg for the money. He looked ready to continue the argument, but Suga had a different plan when they passed a small boutique.

“Oh, let’s go in here,” Suga said, pushing the two of them toward the door.

There wasn’t much of a reason besides the fact Suga saw something cute in the window that had pulled his interest more than their previous conversation. They walked through the small store, shopping quietly. Suga searched through the clothes, seeing if there was anything worth buying.

It wasn’t that he wanted to buy something in particular, and he probably didn’t _need_ to buy anything either. His room was already a mess and he had more clothes than he generally knew what to do with. Still, new clothes were always nice.

“Why do you keep looking at me?” Akaashi asked quietly.

Suga looked up to see Oikawa watching Akaashi like a hawk from the opposite side of the rack. 

“Just watching you to make sure you aren’t stealing anything,” he answered.

Akaashi sighed. “I don’t steal from small shops. I steal from chains and larger businesses because they have insurance and everything is overpriced anyway.”

“So you’re a thief, but with a code of ethics,” Suga teased. 

Akaashi shrugged, going back to looking at the clothes. Oikawa was still watching him, paying particular notice to his hands. He even leaned over the top of the rack to see exactly what the other was doing.

Suga thought he should be more concerned that their roommate shoplifted often, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t going to pretend to understand the intricacies of why Akaashi would choose to steal. 

Maybe it was a rich kid thing. Akaashi was an only child. However, Suga didn’t know much about his childhood. Akaashi didn’t talk about his parents often, and that almost seemed to give Suga more of a hint than anything that they probably weren’t close. 

Besides, who was he to judge? He sometimes stole a little money from the people he slept with. 

“You should steal something.” Suga faced Akaashi, an eager smile on his face.

“Suga-chan! Don’t ask him to do something _illegal_.”

Suga met Oikawa’s stare. He knew Oikawa too well to not recognize the intrigue on the setter’s face. “So you aren’t interested in seeing him in action?” he taunted.

“If I am going to steal something, it won’t be from this store. _And_ you two are not coming in,” Akaashi told them.

They turned to the younger. “Huh?!”

“You both have no chill.”

Suga wanted to tell Akaashi he was wrong, but he couldn’t. He would be too interested in the process to look away, and Oikawa wouldn’t be able to stay calm knowing Akaashi was stealing.

“Fine, but give us your wallet so we _know_ you stole the items.” Suga held out his hand, waiting for Akaashi to hand over his money.

Oikawa made sure they both knew he was not condoning their behavior, giving them a mini-lecture. However, neither of them listened. 

Akaashi handed over his money and they walked out of the store. Suga forgot all about shopping for this new adventure.

  
  
  


Akaashi walked into the clothing store. It was a weekend, so there was plenty of people shopping, which made it easier for him to blend into the background. He never really planned to steal ahead of time. Some days he just felt like it more than others. Today, Akaashi hadn't really in the mood, but Suga asked, so he figured why not.

One of the most important things about stealing was having an understanding of your surroundings. There was a lot you could do if you obscured it from view. Another important thing was to not act suspicious and to avoid any tells on your face that you were doing something illegal. Lucky for Akaashi, he was both observant and cold. It was easy for him to note the cameras in his peripheral and keep his face stoic as he walked through the store. 

Since he wasn’t interested in challenging himself, he looked for items without security tags. The criteria left him searching for small, cheap items. As he walked through the accessories he snagged an orange beanie and some sunglasses. He slipped the items into his pockets. 

The actual process of stealing felt anti-climatic sometimes. When it was something small, there wasn’t much of a rush anymore for Akaashi. There was no adrenaline because he knew the small things would not be missed. 

Akaashi continued his way around the store, pretending to shop. He didn’t plan to steal anything else; he was just simply putting on an appearance. As he walked through the clothing, he stumbled upon a series of t-shirts, each with different Pokémon designs.

He thought his roommates might like one, and he debated stealing one right then. The shirts were tagged though, and he didn’t feel like putting in that effort today. 

After a few minutes, Akaashi made his way out of the store. He walked across the street to where his roommates were waiting for him. 

“So where are the goods?” Suga said.

Akaashi shook his head and rolled his eyes. He first pulled the beanie from his sweatshirt pocket and placed it on Suga’s head. Next, he grabbed the sunglasses from his coat pocket. Without a word, he opened them up and put them on Oikawa.

“Are you satisfied?”

Suga grinned wide, tugging on the hat. He looked proud of himself as if he accomplished a great feat. (Even though Akaashi was the one that did all the work.) Oikawa, on the other hand, did not look amused. He pulled the sunglasses off with a frown as he checked the price tag.

“It didn’t cost that much,” Akaashi told him. “And as I said, the price is marked up anyway and big companies have insurance.”

Suga removed the tag from the hat Akaashi gave him. Then he grabbed the sunglasses from Oikawa’s hands and pulled the tag from them too. He threw both away in a nearby trash can.

“We told him to do it, so you can’t be angry that he actually did it,” Suga said, placing the sunglasses on himself. 

“ _You_ told him to do it, and I just... I didn’t think he would give in to peer pressure,” Oikawa said. He crossed his arms.

Akaashi wouldn’t say he was pressured into anything. He never did things he didn’t want to do. But when Suga had asked, he accepted because a part of him liked having Oikawa and Suga know. Sometimes stealing got boring when you couldn’t tell anyone. 

Suga laughed, latching his arm around Oikawa’s to pull him down the street. It was a signal for them to make their way back to the apartment. When he realized Akaashi hadn’t started walking with him, he turned back and stretched his hand. 

“Do you think next time you could steal me a new phone case?” he asked.

“Don’t encourage this!” Oikawa yelled at Suga.

Akaashi chuckled to himself, unable to help the smile on his face. “Sure, Suga,” he said as he took Suga’s hand to be led home.

  
  
  


Oikawa jogged up the stairs of their building. His legs were tired, but the promise of sanctuary in their apartment kept him going, bounding up by threes. 

After about two flights, his phone started vibrating in his pocket, interrupting the music playing. He pulled it out to see who would be calling him so early in the morning. The answer, of course, was his best friend who was currently in California. (Which meant it was merely the afternoon for him.)

He paused at the base of the next flight of stairs, answering the call and holding out the phone so he could see his screen.

When the video loaded, Iwaizumi appeared to be in a store. There were a few voices off-screen, but they were all jumbled together and in English so Oikawa couldn’t understand them well. The background noise quieted down when Iwaizumi shot a scowl to the side.

“Hey-” Iwaizumi paused. The smile he wore when he greeted Oikawa quickly faded. “Oi, Shittykawa, are you coming back from a run? It’s Saturday, do you ever take a break?”

“Hello to you too, Iwa-chan. I wasn’t expecting a call from you. What a pleasant surprise,” Oikawa singsonged at his friend. He continued his walk up the stairs—now much slower to keep the camera steady.

“I’m just saying you should be resting.”

“There is no practice right now, so running is pretty much the only thing I am doing. No need to worry, _Mom_.”

Iwaizumi glared at him through the camera. “Call me that again Shittykawa, I dare you.” 

“What did you call for?” Oikawa asked, fearing what Iwaizumi would do even though he was on the other side of the world. 

The scowl was replaced with a smile. “Right! So my friends took me to a thrift shop, and you have to see what I found.” 

Iwaizumi flipped the camera around. Pulled out from the rack of clothing was a sweater with a giant Godzilla in the center.

“That seems perfect for you Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said. He reached for his keys while he walked down the hallway toward his apartment.

The video stayed on the clothing rack as Iwaizumi continued talking. “This place is pretty amazing. I also found something I think you are going to love.”

Oikawa turned the key in the lock. He watched the screen as Iwaizumi’s hand reached for a hanger and pulled something out. There was a second when he looked away to open the door and step inside. Looking back, Oikawa saw Iwaizumi had an off-white cardigan on the screen.

“I do like cardigans, but I don’t see why I should be overly excited for this one.”

“Hold on.”

Iwaizumi’s hand was in the video again as he folded the sleeves over to reveal a series of alien heads along the side.

“OH MY GODS, IT’S ALIENS! ON THE SLEEVES!” Oikawa shouted in excitement.

His friend flipped the camera back on himself. A proud, toothy grin on his face. It was a smile that made Oikawa’s stomach flip as he slipped off his shoes and lined them up at the edge of the genkan. 

Oikawa ventured further into his apartment.

“I know, it’s pretty awesome, isn’t it? It looks like it was handmade because it doesn’t have a tag. But I’m pretty sure...”

He stopped listening to Iwaizumi. Not on purpose, but because there was a very muscular man filling up a glass of water at the sink in their kitchen.

“Oikawa! Shittykawa!”

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to call you back Iwa-chan,” he said. Without giving Iwaizumi any time to say goodbye or ask what was going on, he hung up the call. 

“Good morning, Oikawa.” 

The greeting came from Suga who was walking down the hall. 

Oikawa crossed the room quickly, pulling Suga in to whisper so the man in their kitchen wouldn’t hear. “First, how did I not know you had someone over? And second, you have now lost our bet because you didn’t even last a week.” 

“ _First_ , I don’t know. We weren’t even that quiet this time. You’re just a heavy sleeper. _Second_ , no I haven’t. This is the same guy I slept with the day we made our bet, so he isn’t _someone new_.” 

Oikawa thought back to the bet, and he realized he should have caught the language sooner. Akaashi must have heard Suga’s phrasing, which is why he warned him. It was a stupid loophole, and he felt like an idiot. 

He sighed. “Fine, but still, send him home.”

“Okay, okay. But maybe you should think about finding someone to sleep with because you’ve been kind of grumpy lately,” Suga said. Then he turned his head toward the kitchen and called out, “Hey Ito, you have to go home. My roommate doesn’t want you here and we already had sex so no reason for you to stay anyway.”

The man, Ito, didn’t argue. He just walked past the two of them and toward Suga’s room. It was only a moment before he came back out, the rest of his items in hand. He gave Suga an awkward goodbye before he finally left.

After they heard the door close behind the man, Suga skipped his way to the kitchen. He filled up the kettle with water and started the steps to prepare himself a cup of tea. 

Oikawa followed him, settling into a stool at their kitchen island. 

“You obviously planned that. The bet is void now because you didn’t play fair,” he said.

“When did ‘playing fair’ become a rule for bets?”

Oikawa glared at Suga, so when the other turned around, he was met with fierce eyes. 

“Woah, okay fine. The bet is done. Neither of us wins,” Suga said, putting his hands up in defeat. 

“From now on, anyone caught shoving their ‘sex buddy’ out the door in the morning has to put money in a new jar.”

“This seems incredibly unfair because you never bring anyone back, so it would just be Akaashi and me.” 

“Well, I’m just smart enough to sleep with people in their apartments, and since you and Akaashi never wake up early, I am always back before you can catch me.”

“Or you just aren’t having sex,” Suga accused.

“What are you two arguing about now?”

Akaashi entered the kitchen, shuffling his feet across the floor. Though he had asked a question, he largely ignored their presence as he worked to make himself a coffee in their crappy coffee maker. (He didn't know how to use the French Press.) 

“Oikawa wants us to add a jar for anytime someone we sleep with gets caught leaving the apartment.” 

The machine beeped as Akaashi turned it on. Then he spun around to face Oikawa. “I do not appreciate that slut-shaming,” he said.

“Sleeping with a bunch of strangers can be dangerous! The jar is a cautionary tale!”

Suga and Akaashi looked at each other. It was obvious they didn’t believe Oikawa meant what he was saying, and, to be fair, a part of Oikawa didn’t believe himself either. But he was worried for his roommates’ safety on some level...

Akaashi leaned in to whisper something in Suga’s ear, and Suga whispered back. None of it was heard by Oikawa. 

“Fine, we’ll agree,” Akaashi said. 

Oikawa felt like he had somehow lost even though they agreed to his proposal, which honestly happened to him a lot with his roommates. 

  
  
  


Akaashi was reading a book on the couch, Suga’s head resting in his lap while he tapped away at a phone game. It was the last evening before the new semester started, and they were waiting for Oikawa to return from his ‘team bonding’ event. 

They had a quiet evening planned. Suga had made some brownies earlier in the day; Akaashi had stocked up their snacks in the pantry; and they each had chosen a movie to watch because they couldn’t agree on one. However, the compromise made them end up with an interesting combination of sci-fi, romance, and comedy. (Suga wanted to watch a horror movie, but the other two vetoed that idea.)

It was just past seven when Akaashi and Suga heard Oikawa come through the door. They didn’t look up. The two of them simply continued their current activities, waiting for the setter to enter the apartment fully.

“I’ve been thinking, and I feel we should return everything Akaashi has stolen,” Oikawa said. There was no greeting, just his request. 

Suga sighed and sat up so that he was no longer lying down in Akaashi’s lap. “Are we still on this?” he asked.

Akaashi stopped reading, but he didn’t set his book down yet. First the _whore_ jar and now this... 

Both he and Suga realized Oikawa was in a foul mood lately. He tried to hide it, but his attempts were futile. The more he kept whatever was going on in his head inside, the more judgemental and self-righteous he seemed to become. 

Of course, Akaashi realized Oikawa didn’t mean it. He was just frustrated with _something_ , and it was getting annoying. They’d already agreed to the new jar. (Mostly because Suga informed Akaashi he could just steal a little money from his one-night stands to pay for it.) But what more did he expect of them?

“I feel like you don’t want that,” Akaashi said. He felt the eyes of his roommates on him.

“What do you mean?” Oikawa asked.

“Well”—Akaashi closed his book and set it aside—“that would mean we would be giving up half the polaroid film we have, all of the candy and half the alcohol in our pantry, the glow-in-the-dark stars in your bedroom, a few of the mugs in our cupboards, the decorative bowl in the genkan where we keep our keys, and several other trinkets lying around the apartment... Oh, and also the sweatshirt you are wearing right now.”

Oikawa’s mouth dropped, his eyes wide in horror. 

“Akaashi…” Suga whispered, and Akaashi turned to see him looking at him in complete awe. 

“You... I- uh...” Oikawa stammered. “Well, can we just agree that you stop stealing from here on out?”

Akaashi knew he could stop stealing if he _wanted_ to, but he didn’t want to. Maybe it was a rich kid thing like Suga had said. Regardless, it was one of the ways Akaashi maintained control over his life. Playing with fire—negative consequences being real possibilities—helped lessen the impact of actual shit that happened beyond his control. 

“I can’t promise that, but how about I just don’t tell you.”

“Fine,” Oikawa said through gritted teeth. “I’m going to take a shower and then we can watch the movies.” 

When he was out of earshot, Suga turned to Akaashi and said, “You’ll tell me though, right?”

“Sure,” Akaashi said nonchalantly as he picked his book back up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not actually steal or shoplift :)

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mimimortis) or [Tumblr](https://xxtriplethreatxx.tumblr.com/)


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